How do you organize you time between creativity/work/knowledge ?

[Esprit]

I'm currently battling with laziness and procrastination. Today is going very well but to what extent you guys work ? All day long ?

Acquiring knowledge seems to be most important but to put it in action I need to leave the computer/books !

But it seems easier and more cozy in front of the screen, on the sofa than doing the dishes or the laundry !

Do you consider your work (day job) to be creative ?

As an audio engineer yes...not so much as a truck driver !

So I want to keep time for some music, do I procrastinate on my knowledge acquisition ?

When I have an objective in mind I must constantly battle with my emotions, the body, the machine, just wants to do nothing basically: sit....and relax. So the mind just decides the objective is going to happen anyway and the emotion eventually vanishes. Do you battle constantly with yourself like this ? Is this laziness a trap encoded in our modified bodies to prevent us from being creative ?

 

[Keit]

I'm currently battling with laziness and procrastination. Today is going very well but to what extent you guys work ? All day long ?

What do you mean by work? Daily job, or daily chores? Or perhaps you mean "doing the Work"? If the former, then everyone's circumstances are different. Sometimes they change from day to day. As for "the Work", ideally it "doesn't end", as it is an integral part of life experiences.

Acquiring knowledge seems to be most important but to put it in action I need to leave the computer/books !

It's true. It is also mentioned in Gurdjieff's writings that Knowledge and Being must be developed concurrently.

But it seems easier and more cozy in front of the screen, on the sofa than doing the dishes or the laundry !

Indeed. But then we all need "to pay rent on life". And if we don't take responsibility and deal with things we don't like doing, then we must deal with the consequences of the Universe deciding things for us. And sometimes it is much less fun that the inconvenience of washing dishes.

Do you consider your work (day job) to be creative ?

As an audio engineer yes...not so much as a truck driver !

It seems like being creative has more to do with the "state of mind", or "what's in the person", than with their occupation. ;) See the following video as an example.

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So I want to keep time for some music, do I procrastinate on my knowledge acquisition ?

When I have an objective in mind I must constantly battle with my emotions, the body, the machine, just wants to do nothing basically: sit....and relax. So the mind just decides the objective is going to happen anyway and the emotion eventually vanishes. Do you battle constantly with yourself like this ? Is this laziness a trap encoded in our modified bodies to prevent us from being creative ?

It all comes down to a choice. What do you want to do with your life. Sitting on the couch can also lead to certain results. The question is if that is what you want. Many do find it enough, apparently.

As for the laziness maybe being a trap, not sure if you are aware of this notion, but some say that lazy people are more creative, because they prefer to find shortcuts instead of working twice as hard. But surely this notions isn't about really lazy people, but only about those who prefer to be more efficient. Like the people in the video above. Or like the people who are more mentally oriented. There is also this article on SOTT that talks about the difference between laziness and procrastination.

Also, when it comes to balancing things we need or want to do in our lives, although I can't remember the exact session it was mentioned in, but the C's advised to give equal attention to the matters of the mind, body and spirit. Not only to work on acquiring necessary knowledge, but also be aware of the things happening in the world around us. Make sure to attend to our everyday lives and necessary chores, and also leave room to self development and reflection. And also take active steps toward making things that are important to us a reality, and then share this knowledge and experience with others.

Balancing all of this is never easy. Sometimes it take years to master, if ever. But it is a worthy aim, as it teaches a person how to live to their fullest potential. And that is creativity at its finest.

 

[Esprit]

Thanks for taking the time for your very nice answer !

The question was about work in general but it does apply nicely to the Work !

Since I need to work a lot not just to pay the bills put to put money aside for a house, my day is filled with lots of physical work(12-14 hours) creating an imbalance.
Now it's a vicious circle cause I need the home to cut down on working hours...so I'm kind of sacrificing my entire year to mostly work to get loan from the bank so I can have a better place for my business (audio engineer) to have more freedom (certainly not from the bank !).

I do get urgent things done at the last minute but they get done....the motivation is usually not having to pay too much consequences !

The balance between spirit-mind-body makes sense. That would be along the line of: meditation-knowledge-exercise add self development, reflection, chores and putting your plans into actions, networking, learning about the world...that sounds like a full day already !! :O

I'm tired and the rest of the chores suffer. I think Laura mentioned 9 hours of sleep was optimum wich I rarely get. Leaving me very few hours except on week-ends where I tend to just stay home cause I have a lot to do.

Yes time will eventually get me back in line since the sacrifice I make is to make a better a way of living for myself. I have faith in that. Tiiiiime...is on my side....o yes it iiis !!!

And yes I'm lazy enough to find shortcuts...lol

 

[Phill4]

Hi esprit, i think you can devote time to what you like, and acquiring knowledge just fine, the issue you present is procastination which is a habit .

My advice, start a project, a project that consists on reseach, a topic of particular interest for you. Take a book of interests and study, there is so many things discussed here. It will become personal investingation of your own that takes up the time you spend in stand by. With the bonus that you can discuss it here.

Not always do you have to be either one or the other, or reading everything at the same time, one day you can do music, another day you can read, another day you can take a walk and relax.


Just choose a book, and start

Personally, i found procastinating in myself as having to many options and not taking any. Like a room full of doors.

Since you ask how to balance these activities, ill share my own, for perspective although our situations are a bit different: i come home from work and lay in bed to read on my phone, or sit and read for a while, get up, play the piano(novice here) then eating or cooking, then some reading then smoking, maybe a movie or a video, or facebook (mostly to check on friends and the news) then sleep. Some days i rest, some days i don't leave the kitchen, some days i take a walk.

 

[Esprit]

Hi esprit, i think you can devote time to what you like, and acquiring knowledge just fine, the issue you present is procastination which is a habit .

My advice, start a project, a project that consists on reseach, a topic of particular interest for you. Take a book of interests and study, there is so many things discussed here. It will become personal investingation of your own that takes up the time you spend in stand by. With the bonus that you can discuss it here.

Not always do you have to be either one or the other, or reading everything at the same time, one day you can do music, another day you can read, another day you can take a walk and relax.


Just choose a book, and start

Personally, i found procastinating in myself as having to many options and not taking any. Like a room full of doors.

Since you ask how to balance these activities, ill share my own, for perspective although our situations are a bit different: i come home from work and lay in bed to read on my phone, or sit and read for a while, get up, play the piano(novice here) then eating or cooking, then some reading then smoking, maybe a movie or a video, or facebook (mostly to check on friends and the news) then sleep. Some days i rest, some days i don't leave the kitchen, some days i take a walk.

Yeah it does'nt have to be all done the same day...discipline is one key to make it all happen in a reasonable time frame. There is so much good info here I'm just following the tracks laid down by the research being done. Life without bread is waiting on the shelf here.
Thanks for the suggestion investigating on my own will be a good exercise !

 

[Miss.K]

I'm currently battling with laziness and procrastination.

Since I need to work a lot not just to pay the bills put to put money aside for a house, my day is filled with lots of physical work(12-14 hours)

I'm tired and the rest of the chores suffer. I think Laura mentioned 9 hours of sleep was optimum wich I rarely get. Leaving me very few hours except on week-ends where I tend to just stay home cause I have a lot to do.

Hi Esprit,

I used to think I was lazy, until I realized that what I called lazy was actually either being very tired or being sick.
The more energy we have the more we can do. Feeling that one is battling with laziness and procrastination, when having 12-14 hour workdays, might be that the body is trying to tell one, that it is tired, and needs rest.

I think that it can be good at times to push one self to do more, but it is equally important to set aside time to rest and regenerate. If one is constantly borrowing from the "energy bank" the payback comes with pretty high interest rates, and "energy bankruptcy" might be the result.

In this world as I see it, time is always an issue. I have learned the hard way (from getting really sick due to pushing myself to hard, for too long) that it is very important that I don't call myself lazy, and take time to rest (even if there is always a thousand pressing things I could and should do more, do better, will fall apart unless I...etc.) because nothing can be done if one is too sick to do anything.

My two cents :)

 

[PerfectCircle]

Regarding daily chores and work on myself:
I tend to make plans of what I should be doing for the following day and then try sticking to it.
I also "punish" myself if I forget something or sit on a sofa before everything is finished, like do a chore late (even if it's time for bed) or something like that.

Regarding job work:
I am really lazy when it comes to doing something which I don't like nor consider useful, but I do my job very quickly and one could never tell that I am a lazy person.

 

[Esprit]

All valid points thank you! ;)

 

[BrendaH]

Hi esprit, well, I remember once the C's said we CAN'T force things to happen and that we will do what we must to do. So, regarding to what you said about acquiring knowledge and putting it in action and relating it with what the C's said my best advice for you is to not take this as an obligation or a routine, this has to be something that you enjoy doing, that's the best way to learn. The first moment you say "I HAVE to (acquire knowledge, put it in action, etc)" you are taking it as one of your responsabilities, and if you do this because you "have to" you are not going to enjoying it. I, personally, recomend you to read and acquire knowledge when you feel you want to. The only thing you can "force" (not really forcing because you aren't forcing anything, you are doing it because you want to do it and you have the control of this) for example: your diet.

Going back to your questions:

"How do you organize you time between creativity/work/knowledge?"
Well, I don't have the same presure that you have, in my case is easier, so it will doesn't help in absolutly nothing if I explain you this.

"When I have an objective in mind I must constantly battle with my emotions, the body, the machine, just wants to do nothing basically: sit....and relax. So the mind just decides the objective is going to happen anyway and the emotion eventually vanishes. Do you battle constantly with yourself like this?"
No, because your mind must to be stronger than your body. On the contrary you will always fail, for give you an example, is like when your alarm clock sounds in the morning and you are like "oh just another 5 minutes" you close your eyes and those 5 minutes end up in half an hour and you are running late.

I'm sure you will find the way to organize your time between work, creativity and knowledge.

Goodbye ;D

 

[Esprit]

When you say the Mind must be stronger than the body isn'nt that A battle ?

It's True I'm puting lot of pressure on myself pretty obvious reading myself back!

Your post made me relax thanks!

 

[BrendaH]

When you say the Mind must be stronger than the body isn'nt that A battle ?

It's True I'm puting lot of pressure on myself pretty obvious reading myself back!

Your post made me relax thanks!

You're Welcome!! Glad to know my post has helped you.

And, yes, you could say that between our mind and body there's a constantly battle, I never thought about it in that way, I think it's a really good comparision, since we are in a completely physical dimension where it is normal to have these battles I guess. And I'm sure many of the lessons we have to learn here are related with this mind/body battle, maybe one of those lessons is to find the balance between these two. So here you have another "place" to apply your knowledge and put it in action, your mind and body. One more thing, I think it's very important to know yourself, to know who you really are and what are your difficulties, etc., the section Psychology & Cognitive Science it's really good, so if you want to check it, it will really help with this. I, personally, I'm working on that.

Goodbye!!