Things at rest tend to remain at rest. Things in motion tend to remain in motion. And it takes quite a bit of schnizzle (as my friend, Ian, would say) to change from one to the other.
I believe this is called the Law of Inertia. Or maybe it’s one of Newton’s Laws. Science is not my area of expertise, so I could be entirely mistaken about the titles or names, but I’m very sure of the truth of this notion.
I’ve noticed that when I sleep in, it takes a lot longer to actually wake up. And when I sit around playing video games (ok, Drue, I’ll admit that I’m addicted to that game – but I’ll get over it before you get your room truly clean)…as I was saying, when I sit around all day, it’s much harder to get started on dinner or a project than when I’ve been over-busy all day. Time off can be counter-productive.
Having been out of work since March, I’ve been suffering from IGAD syndrome (I’ve Got All Day). I didn’t make this up. I read it somewhere and I’d gladly give credit to the originator if my head could hold two thoughts together without them knocking each other out. Unfortunately, I’ve only just got this idea to wake up and it’s probably the other idea who remembers.
IGAD means that I don’t need to start on it (whatever “it” is) until later because, ah, you’re ahead of me…I’ve got all day. So I play my FrontierVille, or—well—play my FrontierVille until Ed comes home for lunch and catches me still in my nightie, with greasy hair, sitting at the computer. I often jump up and try to look like I’ve been doing something significant, but we both know.
So, using my vast scientific knowle…er…knowing vaguely that if I wanted to get myself out of my state of inertia, I’d need to do something drastic, I began making deals with myself. Okay, that may not seem drastic, but a body has to start somewhere. I told myself that I’d do five actions on FrontierVille, then go unpack a box. Then three actions and fold a load of laundry. Five more actions and start the potatoes for dinner. And it’s worked! Not only have I unpacked quite a number of boxes, done all the laundry (including ironing all of Ed’s shirts), and made lots of food, but
I love IGAD! I have weekends at the end of which I felt like I wasted those precious days off because I fell victim to IGAD and got nothing done on my to-do list.
ReplyDeleteAnd I, too, will dangle 'carrots' to get stuff done. In fact, I've been 'carroting' myself all summer, saying I'd work on my novel when I got this set of critiques done, or that post put up on my blog, or worked on my website. Unfortunately, I run out time and never quite reach the carrot. But at least I got the stuff done I'd targeted.