The dangers of being lazy
24 Jan
Another way to relax...
Stress is a very dangerous illness. Yet, many of us suffer from it.
I have never seen stress as something serious. I mean, every day you hear about it, because everyone is stressed. Just like everyone is feeling tired when they get up early in the mornings, or getting hungry when it’s time for lunch. It’s natural.
And to these issues,
there are simple cures:
- If feeling tired: Get some rest
- If hungry: Go eat something
- If stressed: Relax
But honestly, how do you relax? The tasks you need to carry out don’t disappear because you go to a yoga class. The workload will remain the same, even if you completely lose yourself in a hot bubble bath. Relaxation might therefore not be the cure to stress. It might even be the factor to why we feel this way.
Being too relaxed (read: lazy) often results in stress. So if you, instead of trying to forget about the things you have to do, just do them, I assure you: you will feel more relaxed.
Tags: danger, relaxation, stress, yoga
One of the age-old recommendations is “do your task when you get it, and if you can’t do it, then plan *when* to do it.” I followed that for a while where I was working last: I had five piles for Monday, Tuesday…Friday next to me, and if I got something to do which I couldn’t do immediately, I would place it in one of the piles for the coming week. Worked quite well, and it was good to be able to tell people when I would have time.
I find that once you’ve entered a “productive mode” it is easier to maintain that compared to losing it and aiming for it again. Thus, staying productive by, for example, creating some form of daily rhythm, makes it easier for me to relax.
I agree, it is always easier as a student to stay ahead rather than catching up. For example I find it more beneficial to read the related literature before a lecture instead of trying to figure out what it really was about afterwards..
Marcus, I get the feeling you have an extraordinary talent for finding a flow when you work. Any thoughts around that you would like to share?
I might do a follow-up post on this sometime in the near future. Also goes hand-in hand with having the luxury of planning your entire schedule while writing a thesis.
Exercise is also an awesome way to deal with stress, it helps you restoring the hormone balance (yes, your hormone balance changes quite radically when you are stressed) a bit faster after you have encountered something stressful such as an exam.
In addition to exercise, I find it’s really important to keep one’s blood-sugar level up. This might seem like “Being Alive 101″ to some, but it’s probably worth mentioning
I’m very bad at eating regularly, as I tend to just eat when I feel hungry; As a result of this, I find that if I go for too long between meals, my concentration falls through the floor quite sharply. Once it’s fallen, it’s very hard to recover that productive zen state of mind (even after an emergency pizza). However, on the days when I do remember to eat at the proper times, I am far more focused and motivated for the whole day.
If you are as lazy a person as me; check out GTD. It takes a little while getting into, but once you do – it really works!
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done)