This is kind of applied epistemology: boredom with work

[atlashead]

I have a few things that I loved to do, but I've been doing them a lot & I've just gotten so bored.  Actually, I do most types of creative work so I can't change types.  I don't wanna hear anything like whap Roark on the face with a branch and then ride off.
How do you infuse your work with life again? 

[ThatGuy]

Anytime I hear someone ask for advice while snarkily adding what they

7 hours ago, atlashead said:

I don't wanna hear anything like whap Roark on the face with a branch and then ride off.
How do you infuse your work with life again? 

Say, have you tried whapping Roark in the face with a branch, then riding off?

("I don't wanna hear anything like..." Well, then, why don't you tell us what you DO want to hear?
Sorry, but it's a pet peeve of mine when someone asks for advice with that attitude of "and don't tell me such and such..." Makes it less of a request, and more of a demand, and an obligation to have the "right" advice, under penalty of face-whapping...framing is everything...)

[atlashead]

it was a joke.  For instance, if you're going to put in long days one method of breaking up the work without cigarettes, music, etc. is the following:
1.Internally fake.  Speak slow, spell out your thoughts incorrectly, sing, make your tone the OPPOSITE of your meaning
2. Say something that has actually no meaning
3.Insult your work in the most creative way possible
4.Insult yourself

These methods work to destress you, I was looking at methods of amping your work

edit: I think I need to keep a journal

Edited June 30, 2021 by atlashead
adding what i learned

[ThatGuy]

46 minutes ago, atlashead said:

it was a joke.  For instance, if you're going to put in long days one method of breaking up the work without cigarettes, music, etc. is the following:
1.Internally fake.  Speak slow, spell out your thoughts incorrectly, sing, make your tone the OPPOSITE of your meaning
2. Say something that has actually no meaning
3.Insult your work in the most creative way possible
4.Insult yourself

These methods work to destress you, I was looking at methods of amping your work

edit: I think I need to keep a journal

I think you undercut the "joke" with the serious, sincere nature of the next question: "How do you infuse your work with life again?"
The two together are just incongruous, to me, as presented.

But I hope you get the answer you need. Sincerely.

 

[Jules Troy]

More pornooooooo!!!

[tmj]

Crave out more time for fiction reading.

[caroljane]

1 hour ago, tmj said:

Crave out more time for fiction reading.

And indulge that carving.

[caroljane]

1 hour ago, Jules Troy said:

More pornooooooo!!!

Don't listen to him, young man. He is not the sterling example of True North character you would expect.

Get a nice case of Moosehead and watch the Cup finals.

[Brant Gaede]

17 hours ago, atlashead said:

I have a few things that I loved to do, but I've been doing them a lot & I've just gotten so bored.  Actually, I do most types of creative work so I can't change types.  I don't wanna hear anything like whap Roark on the face with a branch and then ride off.
How do you infuse your work with life again? 

Kick death in the face then ride off.

--Brant

I'm not always this helpful

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

18 hours ago, atlashead said:

How do you infuse your work with life again?

AH,

Find a way to embed it with conflict that puts your top values at risk.

Man, does that focus the mind.

 

Here's an example I just pulled out of where the sun doesn't shine for architecture. (And there are plenty of other examples easy to come up with using different stakes.)

Make your next building or project, irrespective of size or importance to others, a pure statement of all that is good in life to you at this moment on pain of accepting that you are simply one more shlub scratching in the dirt to get by. Make it so that you do it to prove (1) your own greatness, or (2) simply to get by, with the condition that you will fully accept yourself on the outcome. If you are great, you are great. If you are mediocre, you are mediocre. The quality of your result will tell you what you are, not just your own elevated opinion of yourself.

This is the equivalent of being able to point to something and say, "I am great because I can do that." Or, "I am mediocre because that is all I can do and the best I will ever be able to do."

That should put a fire under your butt.

And you don't get to do it once and you are done. Each new project equals another time up at bat. There are no guaranteed outcomes. What's more, you can't turn off your brain to swing if greatness is what you seek.

Your own worth is at stake--always--if you are truly great.

 

No stakes equals boredom in both fiction and life.

The human mind abhors boredom innately.

Of course, I'm presuming you strive for greatness. If you have given up, when boredom comes, go play solitaire. It's pleasant...

Michael

[Jules Troy]

4 hours ago, caroljane said:

Don't listen to him, young man. He is not the sterling example of True North character you would expect.

Get a nice case of Moosehead and watch the Cup finals.

Moarrrrr cowbelllll!!

[caroljane]

11 minutes ago, Jules Troy said:

Moarrrrr cowbelllll!!

yeah .. and a Vache qui Rit might have done better at defence than Montreal did last night.

 

[atlashead]

On 6/30/2021 at 7:04 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

AH,

Find a way to embed it with conflict that puts your top values at risk.

Man, does that focus the mind.

 

Here's an example I just pulled out of where the sun doesn't shine for architecture. (And there are plenty of other examples easy to come up with using different stakes.)

Make your next building or project, irrespective of size or importance to others, a pure statement of all that is good in life to you at this moment on pain of accepting that you are simply one more shlub scratching in the dirt to get by. Make it so that you do it to prove (1) your own greatness, or (2) simply to get by, with the condition that you will fully accept yourself on the outcome. If you are great, you are great. If you are mediocre, you are mediocre. The quality of your result will tell you what you are, not just your own elevated opinion of yourself.

This is the equivalent of being able to point to something and say, "I am great because I can do that." Or, "I am mediocre because that is all I can do and the best I will ever be able to do."

That should put a fire under your butt.

And you don't get to do it once and you are done. Each new project equals another time up at bat. There are no guaranteed outcomes. What's more, you can't turn off your brain to swing if greatness is what you seek.

Your own worth is at stake--always--if you are truly great.

 

No stakes equals boredom in both fiction and life.

The human mind abhors boredom innately.

Of course, I'm presuming you strive for greatness. If you have given up, when boredom comes, go play solitaire. It's pleasant...

Michael

and be sure to state it in Ebonics; Ayn Perfect.  Just don't screw up and stutter.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

2 minutes ago, atlashead said:

and be sure to state it in Ebonics; Ayn Perfect.  Just don't screw up and stutter.

AH,

Man, are you full of excuses.

Do it or don't. It's your life.

But whine about it?

Who do you think you are fooling?

Michael

[atlashead]

18 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

AH,

Man, are you full of excuses.

Do it or don't. It's your life.

But whine about it?

Who do you think you are fooling?

Michael

No, that was good advice that you gave.  Truly.
Just to further investigate my problem though, it's like I don't know enough.  My ideas come too quick but they're like mush, you can just stick your hand through them.  I probably work 11.5 hours a day but i'd like to get that full 18+.  I'm just not sure if I should try to build up the lesser ideas or...Sorry, I'm not paying you guys to be my therapists.  Ignore me.
EDIT: I figured out my problem.  I have to work HARDER.  Upgrade my mind so the concepts I'm working with in say a year are huge compared to now, a total eclipse

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

2 hours ago, atlashead said:

I have to work HARDER.

AH,

Slaves who work harder don't necessarily solve their problem.

 

I think trying to find The One Big Answer To Everything is a mistake.

Our brains evolved in a modular manner. In my view, the correct way to make the whole brain work at peak efficiency is to learn each module's nature, its strengths, weaknesses and needs, then train it accordingly.

Here's an example. Did you know that your right hemisphere is bigger than your left? That's not the only difference. Another difference (oversimplified here since this is just a post making a point) is that the right brain sees the world through the prism of the present, and the left brain can make excursions into the future and and past and come up with creative storytelling. (And, no, the brain doesn't need words to tell stories, or better, operate schemas.)

There are many differences. A book called The Master and his Emissary by Iain McGilchrist (essentially he's a neuroscientist, but a whole lot more) is a great place to learn about this and a pretty good introduction to thinking about your brain in a scientific manner without throwing away the "I" or the human spirit.

And that is just doing left-hemisphere and right-hemisphere modules. There is a kind of virtual way of separating the brain into three main modules called the triune brain which starts at the brain stem, goes through the limbic system (emotions) and then up into the cortex.

Then there are trained modules that one creates (think neuroplasticity and the learned-skill-based automations in the  cerebellum).

And I could go on to even more. There is a huge amount of literature on this topic that is not just dry science reports. But science backs up a huge chunk of it.

If you get curious about this information and dig into it, I'm sure you will find your missing fire and passion in the very issues that bore you right now. Why? Because you will be able to isolate the different parts of your issues according to how the brain functions, including which parts are in control in specific situations, work on them (using only your own testing if you like), and watch yourself improve.

This is not an on-off switch, so it is not instantaneous, but it works and it works well.

Just a suggestion.

I do hope you come to a good solid serenity to base your passion on.

Michael

[Peter]

Michael wrote: I do hope you come to a good solid serenity to base your passion on. end quote

That got me thinking about all the commercials that show babies gleefully crawling on the floor, looking to see what is there. Anything entrances them. Their faces are “lit up” as they scramble around. My not so brilliant conclusion is that those images of happy babies make the adult viewers happy and more prone to buy the products being advertised.   

[atlashead]

I'll leave a golden nugget of the highest percentage sativa: The Burned Ward

[tmj]

Ah dope, you know they never called it smart.

Pot makes you think/feel 2+2=4 is a profound insight in the mere grasping. But it dulls the senses in realizing how trivial it is. I wouldn’t chastise non-habitual indulgences But by the time it’s a habit re-evaluation is called for.

Indica , much more better for chill. 

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

29 minutes ago, atlashead said:

I'll leave a golden nugget of the highest percentage sativa: The Burned Ward

AH,

You know, I hadn't thought about doobies.

They feel good, but they are soul-sucking in terms of enthusiasm.

Michael