Why do I become more lazy when thinking about the things I want to strive to achieve?

Question

I am a cadet at the US Coast Guard Academy and am a Civil Engineering major. I'm determined to stick to this major, but I'm struggling to keep my GPA above 2.0. However, I've noticed that the more that I think about how much harder I should work and study, the more lazy I feel. Another example is that we get a car loan of 36k at the end of my junior year, and the more I think about it, the less I feel like working to earn it. I'm normally a very lazy person, but when I start working on something, I won't stop until I finish. I've even completely skipped dinner because I was obsessed with finishing something once. So, I was wandering if this behavior is a sign of anything, if its normal, and if there's anything I can do to correct my laziness.

Answer 1

Procrastination is the mechanism used for coping with the anxiety of starting a task, and thinking about that elevates anticipation and hence anxiety, and in turn triggers more procrastination. When you are actively working on something you are focused on short-term goals and receiving short-term rewards, so no anxiety.

The classic solution is to break up your big goals into little tasks, so that you can focus on small tasks without getting anxious about big goals, keeping in mind not to over-do it lest you lose sight of the bigger goal. It's up to you how you want to go about this, personally I recommend personal kanban.

Answer 2

I've always found that it's easy for me to think of the thing I want to achieve, the end result - but find it very difficult to figure out the steps (the small steps) that I need to get there.

For the last 6-12 months I've started working out the smallest steps I can think of (or learn from someone else) to get to my goal. Half the time I realize I don't really want to do the thing when I see all the steps involved, which is great as I don't keep thinking "I wish I would do this", and half the time I have a task list of simple steps to take every day to get there....and then I just start doing the little things and tracking them. I've accomplished more with this approach in a year than in the past 10 - just a little more work ahead of time!

Answer 3

I used to have this feeling. It's like you're in the marathon. You need a break.

• For me, I bring back my energy by having a nice day that I don't do any work, just like in "The Lazy song" by Bruno Mars. :) And you shouldn't feel bad about your lazy day because every hard-working people needs a break.

• Celebrate when you achieve your small task. Make yourself remember how good to celebrate. Eager to celebrate more.

I think that should do it.