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    Addiction, Procrastination, and Laziness: A Proactive Guide to the Psychology of Motivation
    Addiction, Procrastination, and Laziness: A Proactive Guide to the Psychology of Motivation
    Addiction, Procrastination, and Laziness: A Proactive Guide to the Psychology of Motivation
    Ebook177 pages2 hours

    Addiction, Procrastination, and Laziness: A Proactive Guide to the Psychology of Motivation

    By Roman Gelperin

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    About this ebook

    Learn to Take Control of Your Life, Through an In-Depth Understanding of Motivation:

    What is motivation? Why do we feel totally paralyzed to do certain things, and utterly unable to quit others? Too many people conclude, falsely, that they are just lazy, or lacking in willpower. But what they lack is a correct understanding of their own minds, of motivation, and the way that it operates.

    This book is a self-help manual and a rigorous analysis of the psychology of motivation. It will teach you to stop procrastinating, kick your addictions, circumvent laziness, take control of your actions, and achieve your goals, by thoroughly understanding the way your mind works. In it, you'll learn:

    • What is the nature of motivation, on its deepest psychological level
    • Why addiction and procrastination are two sides of the same coin
    • Why there's no fundamental difference between a physical and psychological addiction
    • Why willpower is rarely the solution to anything
    • Why and how emotions motivate

    You'll also learn fifteen powerful strategies for motivating yourself, why they work, and how to apply them to your own life. By the end of this book, you'll possess all the tools you need to take firm control of your daily existence.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRoman Gelperin
    Release dateSep 19, 2018
    ISBN9781386348115
    Addiction, Procrastination, and Laziness: A Proactive Guide to the Psychology of Motivation

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    Reviews for Addiction, Procrastination, and Laziness

    4/5

    28 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Excellent material. A bit tough to read but is definitely worth the time and effort. A very useful resource!
    • 5/5
      The book states simple and effective points to break laziness and procrastination.
    • 3/5
      While I'm glad I read it (and really, it is a very short book), I think Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy and similar titles cover most of the ideas in this book more thoroughly while using more examples and with more inclusive writing (the author uses exclusively male pronouns).

      Also, some of the ideas involve a lot of "common sense" introspection that I don't really think apply as universally as the author likes to argue. Not to mention that relying primarily on introspection is pretty unscientific.

      7 people found this helpful

    Book preview

    Addiction, Procrastination, and Laziness - Roman Gelperin

    Addiction,

    Procrastination,

    and Laziness:

    A Proactive Guide to the

    Psychology of Motivation

    By Roman Gelperin

    Copyright © 2017 Roman Gelperin

    All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact:

    romangelperin@gmail.com

    Download Abraham Maslow’s Seminal Essay on Human Motivation for Free

    As a token of thanks for buying my book, I’d like to give you access to Abraham Maslow’s foundational essay on human motivation free of charge.

    Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Roman\Desktop\Dropbox\Diary, All Notes From December 25, 2013\Published Works, with Liesurely Editing\Motivation Essay, Edit 1\CreateSpace Formatt\Second Edition\Motivation_Book_Edited_Without_Added_Sections_files\image001.jpg

    Follow the link below to get access:

    www.romangelperin.com/maslowpdf

    Maslow’s essay provides an invaluable perspective on motivation, and is a highly recommended supplement to this book.

    In addition, you’ll also have an opportunity to receive exclusive access to my newest books, free books, and other valuable emails from me.

    Again, follow this link to sign up:

    www.romangelperin.com/maslowpdf

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Chapter 1: Anomalies in Human Behavior

    Procrastination

    Loss of Motivation

    Cigarette Addiction

    Videogame Addiction

    Oversleeping

    Chapter 2: Unraveling the Mystery

    The Act and the Result

    When the Result Outweighs the Act

    Anticipation of the Act and the Result

    Present Activities versus Future Consequences

    The Activation Energy for Starting an Activity

    The Picture So Far

    Chapter 3: The Psychological Nature of Motivation

    The Motivation of Seeking Pleasure

    The Ubiquity of Pleasure and Displeasure as Motivation

    The Pleasure Unconscious in Animals

    The Dynamics of the Pleasure Unconscious

    Attention and the Pleasure Unconscious

    Attention and Willpower

    Chapter 4: How the Pleasure Unconscious Operates

    Displeasure Motivation versus Pleasure Motivation

    Pleasure from Different Sources

    Pleasure is Relative

    The Pleasure in Activities

    Pleasurable Emotions

    The Social Factor

    Chapter 5: The Mental Framework of Motivation

    The Three Parts of a Prospective Activity

    Motivation for Continuing the Current Activity vs. Beginning a New One

    The Role of Willpower

    Chapter 6: The Strategies in Our Toolbox

    The Displeasure of a Guilty Conscience

    Keeping the End in Mind

    Do not Weigh Pros and Cons

    The Power of Habit and Association

    Controlling our Environment

    Employing Social Motivation

    Splitting your Attention

    Directing your Attention

    Employing Emotion

    The Power of Imagination

    Caffeine and other Drugs

    Frustrate a Need

    Monitor your Attention Capacity

    Begin the Day with Low Pleasures

    Using Physical Reminders

    Chapter 7: Applying What We Learned

    The Procrastinator

    The Gym Goer

    The Smoker

    The Video Gamer

    The Sleeper

    Conclusion

    Thank you for Reading!

    Your Free Maslow Essay on Motivation

    Test your Understanding: Take the Quiz!

    Introduction

    I wrote this short book back in 2013, after beating my head painfully, persistently against the thick wall of my motivational problems, and finally breaking out into full understanding, acceptance, and self-control. I dealt with these issues the same way I deal, and recommend dealing, with all psychological troubles: through introspection—that is, by paying attention to the subtle workings of one’s own mind, identifying the roots of the problem, and devising the corresponding solution.

    I wrote this book as a type of self-help manual, targeting the most common motivational problems in the world today, against which most people end up wrecking themselves, but that can be easily and effectively solved by a correct understanding of their own minds. Other than quitting cigarettes, I intimately experienced all the motivational problems described in this book.

    The five examples in Chapter One are of composite persons: based on my own personal introspections, and on my extensive observations of the people around me, who I saw struggling with the same issues. As for the smoking example, I was never addicted to cigarettes, and therefore never needed to quit. But from my countless observations of smokers around me—attempting, usually failing, and once again trying to quit—I noticed their quandary had the same essential determinants as every other motivational problem, and could therefore be solved using the same methods.

    Since writing this book, I’ve applied every technique I advocate in it to my own life, and with amazing success. I only hope the hard-won insights I lay out on its pages will prove as useful to you, as they have been for me.

    Chapter 1

    Anomalies in Human Behavior

    Over the course of our lives, we have all no doubt had a chance to observe certain anomalies in our own behavior. And I do not mean this in the sense of the overstated fact, so often gaudily proclaimed by psychology students and enthusiasts, that "human beings behave irrationally." What they refer to hardly manages to scratch the surface of the archaic psychic mechanisms that are at play in the human mind.

    It isn’t simply that people behave or even think irrationally, but that the conscious control we exert over our behavior has sometimes partial, sometimes little, and sometimes no bearing on our manifest actions. For anyone who has paid this any due attention, it is indeed hard not to get the impression that some antagonistic forces within us are constantly pushing, pulling, and determining our actions, no matter what our conscious intentions are, and in spite of any deliberate opposition we may put up. Nearly all self-observant persons will concede that they are not in full control of their behavior. And there are many who feel that they truly have no control at all. In large part, they are correct.

    Procrastination

    It has been six weeks since Jim was assigned an eight-page paper for his American Literature class. He had thought about it frequently over the elapsed time. He concluded that it would take no more than ten total hours to complete it. He had multiple times made a resolution to begin the paper, planning to get it out of the way early. He shunned those resolutions over and over again, and hasn’t as much as written a word of it. Only now, in the dead of night, exactly ten hours before it is due, Jim begins feverishly writing and cobbling words together. Every minute of the next ten hours Jim spends intensely working, taking no breaks to rest, watch television, or play videogames, as he is usually prone to doing. He feels stressed, irritated, exhausted, but in the course of those ten hours he manages to complete the paper and hands it in right on time.

    Now Jim feels elated. He feels a huge relief, a grand weight lifted off his shoulders, he is ecstatic, he no longer feels tired despite staying up the extra ten hours to write the paper. He thinks he can tackle anything, overcome any hurdle. Never again, he thinks, from now on I will never leave an assignment to the last minute and have to spend such an excruciating time rushing to complete it. But, of course, Jim is doomed to find himself repeating this process over and over again; procrastinating for days, and weeks, and months before beginning his assignments; and always waiting until the very last minute before his assignment is due, and when stalling any longer would cause him to flunk it.[1]

    Without a doubt this is an extremely common scenario, one which many of us have experienced at one time or another, if not perpetually so. So why does it happen? Why do we waste countless hours on unproductive, frivolous activities, when we know there’s work to be done? Why can’t so many of us resist the urge to procrastinate? What separates those of us who do, from those who diligently complete all their work early or in a timely fashion? Why can’t we force ourselves to work, even though we know it isn’t worth the stress and anxiety that we will experience in rushing to do it at the last second? And, of course, the work itself then suffers on top of that. Many will conclude that they just have no willpower. And yet, in those final moments right before the assignment is due, the willpower we call up to do it is nothing short of incredible. At those times we may feel that if only we could harness that motivation, we would be capable of anything. But no one would wish onto themselves the constant, feverish pressure of continuously having to complete a task under this type of hard deadline. And those whose job puts them in these kinds of conditions most often greatly resent it. There can, of course, be many negative physical and psychological side-effects as well.

    It is, however, possible to have the best of both worlds: to be productive and proactive without the stress and strain that comes with having to meet a deadline. And it has little to do with willpower; as we will soon see, willpower is only a skittish and insignificant factor. What it requires is an understanding of motivation. But let’s leave this issue hanging for now and take in a few more examples.

    Loss of Motivation

    Annemarie is trying to lose weight. She buys a membership to a local gym, and for the first two weeks she goes there eagerly every day and gets an admirable workout. On the first day of the third week she feels a reluctance to go, but she still manages to pick herself up and visits the gym anyway. The day after that she decides that it would be OK to skip a day, and doesn’t go. And from that point forward, just as with so many people, she begins having an extremely hard time bringing herself to visit the gym. Most days she is unable to overcome this dreadful feeling and ends up failing to go at all. Soon she finds herself only going to the gym once a week, then once every two weeks, and eventually she stops going altogether.

    This is, of course, a typical case of loss of motivation, and an incredibly common one today.

    Cigarette Addiction

    John is 36 years old. He works at an accounting firm, and is trying to quit cigarettes, a habit he’s been maintaining for the past 18 years. He smokes half a pack a day, but decides to quit cold-turkey. At many instances throughout his day, he has a strong urge for a cigarette, but then he remembers his vow to quit, and resists it. The first day he succeeds in resisting his urges and doesn’t smoke even a single cigarette. The next day, however, upon walking home from work, he is surprised to find that a lit cigarette has found its way into his mouth, and that he is happily puffing away at it.

    He had taken a pack out of his pocket, extracted a cigarette from it, put it into his mouth, pulled a lighter from his pocket, lit the cigarette, replaced both the pack and the lighter into his pocket once more, and only after taking several large puffs from it does he realize that he’s just done all this, and actively defied his vow to quit smoking. He takes one last deep drag from the cigarette and throws it out.

    The next day, to prevent a reoccurrence of this, he takes the pack out of his pocket and stores it in his desk drawer at work. He frequently yearns to have a smoke, but then he imagines having to reach into the drawer to get it and stops himself. Soon enough, however, he finds himself outside with the pack in his hand and a lit cigarette in his mouth. He retrieved it from the drawer, went outside

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