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We’re here in the middle of a viral outbreak, forced to shut ourselves in isolation in order to prevent the spread of infection.
Of course, us procrastinators are natural survivalists in this pandemic. Our lifestyle is quarantine. Meanwhile, you got morons protesting out on the streets shouting: “Gimme muh freedom! This is ‘murica.” Look, just because you're stuck inside your house doesn’t mean you have to be stuck inside your own head. Humble yourself a bit and put your Ego to the side, man. We’re in this together. Relax and abide. Placing your own personal “freedom” above the lives of other human beings is selfish. There are people literally wielding signs that say “sacrifice the weak”. That’s like a phrase a super villain has framed on his desk. Look, man, I get it. We have no choice but to stay inside all day. And even us lazy procrastinators start to feel some symptoms. No, not from COVID, but from cabin fever! Cabin fever can make us rather irritable and agitated by the fact that we can’t easily “break free” from this isolation indoors. But look, you don’t need to leave your house to have freedom. There are plenty of choices to make, plenty of opportunities to take within the comforts of your own home. The modern home is basically an indoor arcade. The couch is your ultimate ship for adventure. After all, freedom is a state of mind and it can be achieved by embracing your laziness. Today we’re gonna go over some of the things you can do to avoid boredom during quarantine and feel that sense of freedom once again. Establish for yourself a (lazy ass) routine by putting together a set series of tasks to do, whether it’s productive or not. This gives you purpose, structure, and balance. Here are some of the things you can choose to add to your “on-the-couch” routine during quarantine or otherwise. 1. Play video games Beyond blowing off some steam, video games provide a call to adventure (outside your home) as well as the opportunity to “level up” IRL skills. Go on an adventure You want to travel to a new land? Get out in the great outdoors? Video games are your ticket. From frosty mountains to western hot deserts to beautiful green forests to deep underwater cities. Any outdoor environment you’d ever want to explore can be found from the comforts of your couch -- virtually. You can even build and visit theme parks -- ride roller coasters, eat popcorn,play carnival games. You can go skateboarding, snowboarding (even in the summer!), ride dirt bikes, go water skiing, play football, or whatever you want. If it exists, there’s probably a game for it. If you’re sick of being home, and want to “go out”, pick up a controller and journey to any place you want to go, do whatever activity you want. Plus, VR opens up a whole new level of realism to this experience and you can really feel like you’re “actually there”. The possibilities are nearly endless, especially when you can create custom maps to explore. So head on out there and adventure! (....from your couch) Practice problem-solving skills Most games have some sort of puzzle solving element to them. You have to use your logic, reasoning, and critical thinking skills to figure out how to progress in the game. Some “puzzle” games are even purposefully designed to give players one intellectual challenge after the other, becoming increasingly more difficult. This levels up your Intelligence state IRL. Improve your hand-eye coordination Quick reflexes are necessary to beat the most competitive players online or even the hardest AI. You need to have your timing down to a pat if you want to beat that grueling boss or jump past that crazy series of complex platforms and traps. By playing a fast-paced action game, platformer, or shooter, you’re increasing your motor skills and ability to react to the world “around you”. This makes you more aware of your surroundings and handle movements with poise and grace. “If you can dodge a Bullet Bill, you can dodge a ball” Develop strong decision making skills Decisions, decisions. A lot of games now have an “RPG element”, allowing you to choose your own path in creating a character. Do you level up your character's defensive abilities and become a walking tank with no real damage output? Or maybe you focus on offensive skills and lack any sort of endurance, becoming a “glass cannon. Or maybe you create a more well-rounded character. The choice is yours. So too do you get to “create your own character” IRL, but video games are a great place to start in realizing that the small choices you make have an impact to the overall “build” of your character. You choose who you become in “the end game.” Likewise, some games, like Mass Effect, Fallout, & Elder Scrolls, the Walking Dead Telltale (to name just a very few notorious ones) offer moral choices. This has you weighing the pros and cons of decisions, choosing who to make friends with, who to make enemies with, and maybe even who gets to live and who gets to die. This really test your strength of character. Also you can play out “what if” scenarios,making an entirely different decision, something you can’t do in reality, so that’s fun too. Learn how to set goals and achieve them Of course, the most awesome thing about video games (and the thing that keeps me coming back for more) is that sense of achievement. Nothing feels better than finally, finally, FINALLY getting that piece of equipment you always wanted or earning that trophy you always sought after or unlocking that super secret area that took a whole collection log of items to get. Earning 99s in RuneScape inspired me to “level up” my life. But you can apply that same principle to any game, really. If you can earn “in-game” achievements, you can earn real ones as well if you’re determined enough. 2. Binge watch You can either be entertained by or learn from all the different shows available on the countless number of streaming services and apps. From Tigers to Zombies to Meth-selling science teachers (oh my), there’s pretty much a show that hits every single little niche out there or tells a fascinating story in a setting that might capture your interest. Plus, it gives you the ability to escape our COVID crisis reality for a bit and live in and experience the fantasy of another world. This can help you cope with the stress and anxiety you might be feeling by simply taking your mind off things. Documentaries are cool too because they’re basically research papers read to you, complete with visuals and dramatic music. It’s a lazy way to learn new shit. Oh and don’t get me started on climbing down the rabbit hole of YouTube. Start with a random search term and keep watching related videos. You’ll find yourself in a weird, yet somehow engaging, part of the Interwebs. 3. Learn a new skill Speaking of leveling up IRL, what better way to “level up your skills” than to well, actually learn one? From playing an instrument to juggling to doing karate to dancing, there’s a YouTube video out there to show you the “How To”. YouTube is actually a great source for instruction videos and best of all, it’s free, and I like free. There are “premium” courses you can pay for, of course on sites like Udemy and MasterClass. MasterClass offers unlimited courses on an annual subscription basis; they include A list celebrities teaching their craft, like R.L. Stine teaches writing, Neil DeeGrsse Tyson teaches scientific thinking and communication, and Gordan Ramsety teaches cooking to name a few. It’s an amazing site for learning the ropes from experts who “made it”. Pick something you’ve always secretly (or not so secretly) wanted to try and learn and take your time to actually do it. Go slow n’ steady. Enjoy the progress. You won’t become an expert overnight, but you can and will eventually with enough patience and persistence, the roots of procrastination. Remember, there’s a difference between “sucking” at something and “being a beginner”. Accept the fact that you’re an idiot and be willing to learn a new skill or two. Become a Jack of Trades, master of none (besides procrastinating). Plus, there are apps that allow you to “gamify” your productivity and learning progress and turns practice into a fun adventure. 4. Read Reading is a great way to discover the world that exists outside of your house, especially during quarantine. You can visit different cities, countries, planets, and even entirely new galaxies all while curled up with a good book on your couch. You can view nature and observe the small intricacies of it. You can be bold and head off on a new adventure. It puts you in the world of imagination. I’ve always been a bit of a book nerd. I was that kid in high school reading during lunch instead of talking with mates. It’s relaxing, damnit. Somehow discovering the perspective of successful people or diving into a fantasy realm is one of the most therapeutic things to do while isolated in a pandemic or just in general. You open up the theater of the mind. The downside of reading is that in order to read, that’s basically the only thing you can do. It requires your full undivided attention to understand the words on the page. We’re so used to looking at our phones, computers, TV screens, getting distracted, jumping from one thing to another, that sitting down to just read can seem like a snoozefest. Personally, my attention span has definitely decreased over the years. I used to read about a book a day, but now I just don’t have that attention span any more. Fortunately, audio books are a lazy man’s dream because they do the reading for you. No longer do you have to sit there with full focus. You can be doing other things while quote on quote “reading”. Plus, you can even increase the playback speed in order to read two or three times faster than someone who actually takes the time to read the old fashioned way. And if you’re not in the mood for any sort of book, audio or otherwise, you can always dig yourself in the rabbit hole of Wikipedia by starting with a random word. 5. Write Writing gives you the opportunity to record your thoughts in the physical realm. You take what’s inside your head and put it outside. The key to good writing is to just write. A lot of times we attempt to edit while we write, and this makes the whole process a lot harder than it needs to be. Get your thoughts on paper (or in a word doc). Then edit the procrastinator way...later. What do you write about? Whatever you want, man. Your thoughts, your feelings, your interests. A better question to ask yourself is: What are you thinking about? Write about what those thoughts are. Write about what’s important to you. Write about what you actually give a fuck about. This isn’t a graded term paper. You aren’t given a certain guideline to follow. Just go with the flow and let the words run from your mind to the tip of your pen. It doesn’t need to make sense or be grammatically correct. Not right away anyway. Coherence and clarity is achieved after the initial writing As lame as it might sound, journaling is actually a good way to “practice” writing and get in that flow. This will help you discover your “voice” in writing. This is what your writing “sounds like” or “reads like,” more accurately stated. It’s just as unique as your own speaking voice, with a special unique cadence to it. Good writing has a strong voice, one that’s present. The more you are aware of your voice, the more you can fully flesh it out and create good writing. I always encourage you to monetize what you write (or what you do in general for that matter) If you’re writing comments on a blog or social media. Guess what? You are writing. Not only are you writing but you are writing completely original content. Content that you could be monetizing the shit out of by publishing it to a blog. You could take your thoughts and maybe use it as inspiration to create a character. Write a short story or go balls deep and write a whole novel. It doesn’t matter what the end game is. Just get those words out of your head. I’m writing a book one blog at a time by putting my thoughts out there. 6. Podcasting I say the act of “podcasting” because there are essentially two different camps here: listening and recording. Listening to podcasts, like audiobooks, is a Lazy Man’s dream. You can learn about a niche, get informed with the news, and discover insight from experts all while you’re taking a shower or playing video games. Nice. There’s literally a podcast about anything and everything. I was listening to one about two player board games, two players specifically. That’s how narrowed down in the niche these shows can get. And plus, listening to podcasts can give you the illusion that you’re surrounded by friends having a conversation -- great way to feel social while social distancing. Like writing, recording a podcast gets your thoughts out there in the real world and allows you to spark a conversation. Podcast at its roots is radio and radio is a conversation. You want to talk “to” your listeners and not “at” them. When you turn on the mic and hit record, you’re talking to ONE person. Just one. Picture them and imagine talking to them. This creates an intimate environment. That same feeling of “being surrounded by friends” you get while listening is the same feeling you want to inspire when you’re talking on your podcast. Talk about what you know and what you’re interested in. Both of these ingredients are necessary for the recipe of a “good” podcast. If you know a lot about something but aren’t really interested in it, you’ll come across as boring. And if you are really interested in something but don’t know very much, well then you just sound like a dumb ass. Fortunately, that’s where interviews come into play. Interviews let you have other people share their knowledge in which you lack, making you both look smart. In this way, you can make your own podcast a bit of a “learning journey” for both yourself and your listeners. Minimizing effort, maximizing results. 7. Do nothing aka “meditate” Meditation is just a fancy schmancy word for “the art of doing nothing.” Seriously. All these gurus and meditation “experts” claim to teach you the “secret technique” to relax and put your mind at ease. There’s nothing to be an expert in. There’s no “secret knowledge”. You’re doing nothing. Literally. That’s what meditation is at its core. You think nothing. Feel nothing. Do nothing. And just live fully in and experience the present. You remove the distracting thoughts -- the worries, the regrets, the hopes, the fears and just focus on “being”. You sit there and be...nothing. Meditation grants you the epiphany that shit doesn’t matter. There’s no reason to attach yourself to anything because in the end, it’s all nothing. All that exists, all that’s meant to be is right here, right now. Let go of your attachments to others. Let go of your attachment to things. Just let it all go, until you’re left with...nothing. Embrace that Laziness. Do nothing. This gives you a sense of living, of fulfillment. It creates a peace of mind. It allows you to discover who you are, without definitions, without words. It allows you to be Lazy and not just call yourself Lazy. it allows you to be you, without using titles or adjectives. If you’re searching for something to do during quarantine, then do nothing. Meditate. 8. Make money from the couch Ah, the real meat and potatoes of the procrastin8r lifestyle. After all, you gotta be able to support your laziness. Don’t just be lazy. Get away with it! Of course, right now laziness is not the only inspiration to start making money from home.A lot of people are being laid off from their 9 to 5 jobs. The unemployment rate is soaring right now. People are wondering “How do you make money from home?” There are several ways to make money online, from the comforts of your couch. You can monetize your writings, monetize your podcast recordings. Monetize your content. Create content and post ads or find sponsors. You can do freelance gigs with one of the skills you learned during all this free time in quarantine. You can learn how to invest in the crypto or stock market, which quite frankly is a good time to get into. Since it’s in a bit of a dip, you’re gonna be able to buy low and sell high (the fundamental principle of profiting with investments). Remember to invest with your money, not your emotions. You can do micro tasks like take surveys or enter information. This is just to name a few possibilities.The methods are out there. You just have to take advantage of them. Just cause you don’t have a job doesn’t mean You could even be a Lazy Entrepreneur and put together a business to launch after this whole virus thing blows over. Create a business that makes money for you; don’t create another job that replaces your old job. --- As you can see, there are plenty of options to choose from, even while “locked down” in isolation during COVID-19’s wrath. You still have a lot of freedom and if you don’t see that, you’re trapped in your own mind, not your own house. And by the way, speaking of options, you can always sleep. But that’s pretty much a given and isn’t even worth putting on the list. Do what you want, man. Just because you can’t go outside doesn’t mean you have to feel “stuck” anywhere. Keep on moving slow n’ steady. We’ll get out of this sooner or later. Take it easy, N8 Is there anything you do during quarantine? Share it in the comments below.
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We’ve been on a month long vacation, *ahem* quarantine, and people are actually saying they “miss” work. They’re out there protesting n’ shit. “Goddamn gimme my freedom. This is Murica!” they cry. As if having their conveniences is more important than people’s lives.  Look...stay the Fuck Home. It’s simple. Relax. Be lazy. Enjoy it. But people are getting ancy and impatient. They’re feeling a bit of cabin fever. Heck, I get it. Even a procrastin8r like me is getting a little frustrated with being forced by law to stay indoors (though I’d probably stay inside anyway in all fairness). I’m concerned that these protests may turn violent if the rules of the Stay at Home order aren’t lifted soon. That of course would increase the risk of infection spreading rapidly, greatly accelerating the death toll. It’s sort of a lose/lose situation. Either we wait it out patiently and sacrifice our freedom to leave the house for a while, or rush back outside immediately and kill people. You have two camps: Those in fear of a totalitarian state of the government and those in fear of a virus killing everybody. The reality is, it’s going to kill some people and it will kill a lot more people if we don’t take precautions. The fact of the matter is, people won’t follow these precautions unless required to do so. I mean let’s be honest here. The freedom to choose whether or not to take precautions will result in too many people choosing NOT to, thus spreading the virus very quickly. Man, just embrace laziness. Quit being fearful either way. Shut up. Sit your ass down and drink your goddman tea!  understand though. People want a sense of normalcy back in their lives, and in today’s blog we’re aiming to do that, all while remaining inside in our humble little lazy abode. Seek not freedom out of your house. Seek freedom within your soul. One simple thing you can do, as we touched on in last week’s blog is establish a solid lazy routine to follow every day. A routine allows you to achieve three vital things: Purpose, Structure, and Balance Purpose Getting up for work. It sucked, but it provided one thing that may be missing in your life during this isolation: a sense of purpose. You had a reason to go to work - to make money, to pay bills, to provide for you and your family. You had a direction to go in. As much as you hated your job, it provided you a definite path to go down. So if you say that you miss work, what you’re really missing is purpose.  What is purpose? Purpose is simply a matter of finding meaning in what you’re doing. You can do seemingly “lazy” things as long as there is purpose and meaning behind doing them. If you are feeling guilty over lying on the couch all day watching movies, what you’re really telling yourself is NOT “I should stop being so lazy”, it’s “I feel a lack of meaning.” Being Lazy is a good thing, or at least can be if used properly. You have to answer the WHY. Why are you lying on the couch watching movies all day? Seriously. Think about this for a second. If your answer is “cause I’m a lazy fuck.” You’re wrong. That doesn’t even answer the question. Lying on the couch all day does make you a lazy fuck but it still doesn’t answer why you’re doing that in the first place. So WHY...why is it you lie on the couch all day? Think about it. I’ll wait . . . . . . . Good? Okay. Now, if you’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t really have a reason “I dunno” or “it’s just something I do.” Then we can summarize together one thing: You lack purpose. If what you’re doing is merely a distraction to something worthy of more purpose (or an actual purpose for that matter), then you aren’t being lazy, you’re being idle. If you get a sense of unworthiness in your laziness, then the key ingredient you’re missing is purpose. Procrastinate with Purpose. True laziness is fulfillment; true laziness is freedom.  There’s a difference between Laziness and Idleness, which is a topic we can expand on in the future. Laziness is simply a matter of feeling at ease, while simultaneously developing your purpose. Idleness, on the other hand, is lacking purpose behind what you’re doing (even people who “work hard” can technically be idle) Now, back to our question as to WHY you lie on the couch all day. If you’ve come up with an answer such as “I like it” Noooow, we’re onto something! You could dive a little deeper. What is it you like about it? What makes it important to you? You could say “Well, I like watching the fantasy. I like learning about the characters and seeing them develop. It helps me understand myself as well as other people.” Or maybe even “I am saving people’s lives by not going outside and lying in the comforts of my ass worn couch” The takeaway here is to explore the meaning in everything you do (or everything that happens to you for that matter). There’s no problem with being lazy, as long as you have purpose for doing so. When it comes to setting your routine, you want to make sure that you dedicate time towards fulfilling your purpose. Choose a specific activity (or set of activities) that give you a sense of meaning. Careful though. There’s a fine line between “Finding Purpose” and “Making an Excuse.” Finding Purpose requires thoughtful contemplation, whereas Making an Excuse is just word vomit.  Finding Purpose is playing offense. You carefully decide what you are going to do and how it will be beneficial to your physical, mental, or emotional well-being. You procrastinate, plan, then take action. Finding Purpose is strategic and thoughtful. It’s proactive. Making an Excuse is playing defense. You haphazardly rush into doing something or just do it without any conscious awareness of your behavior. You take action, without the proper planning (or procrastination) Making an Excuse is irrational and emotional. It’s reactive. With purpose comes focus. The greater sense of purpose you have, the more keen your focus is. Having a strong sense of meaning allows you to accomplish the Lazy principle of doing LESS with MORE focus. Structure Whereas Purpose is the foundation, the motivating factor behind your goal, or task of routine, Structure is the plan that leads you to completing it.  Rather than dilly dallying or trying to figure out what to do with your time (then ending up wasting it), you deliberately construct a plan to achieve your goal, your purpose, and act upon it...even if that plan is sitting on the couch eating Cheetos and playing video games. With Structure, you arrange your life in the way you want to live it. With Purpose, you understand WHY you want to live it that way. They sort of go hand in hand. Purpose without Structure leads to never achieving much Structure without Purpose leads to a lack of fulfillment. While it’s important to be organized, it’s equally as important to have ambition. You must both have meaning and the means to get there. Now to clarify, I’m not saying you need to get out the white glove or be an organized perfectionist. You don’t need a daily planner full of notes.  My room’s a mess, but I know where everything is goddamnit. That’s structure. Structure is simply “the know how” of goal accomplishment. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s not as strict as you might think either. It’s simply drawing a line from Point A to Point B. It’s putting everything “in place” -- a place that makes sense to you. No one understands why I keep dirty clothes on the floor, but damnit -- it makes sense to me and it achieves my goal of doing laundry, eventually, somehow. Look, point is, it works for me. I value efficiency over presentation. Find a purpose and maintain a structure that keeps you set on it. My purpose is to be efficient and I achieve that by throwing clothes on the floor. Scheduling You don’t need a hard ball schedule, but some time frame measures may be helpful. You can procrastinate as long as you want, as long as you plan when you’re going to do it and how long you’re going to do it for, ahead of time.  Knowing what you plan to do with your time is the first step to taking control of it. You have to develop the habit of consciously choosing what to do with your time at any given moment. This doesn’t mean becoming unhinged if things don’t go “according to the plan”. You’re able to “go with the flow” and can handle unpredictable circumstances. It does mean, however, that you never feel like you “waste” time. Time is not wasted if you deliberately decided how to spend it. The only way to legitimately waste time is by failing to take notice of how you are spending it. Structure is awareness of how you spend your time, and the best way to become aware of it is to plan it ahead. Whatever you resolve to do with your time is up to you, but the point is to be in control of your time and not let time control you. Keep your flexible schedule, but use it as a basic sort of "guideline". Structure your life in such a way that you manage to do what you want and feel accomplished. Structure makes your life easier. Taking a few minutes aside each night to plan tomorrow will save you hours of turmoil in thinking about what else you “should be” doing. By creating structure designed with purpose, by enacting on a schedule, you remove the “shoulds” from your life and live a life of desire rather than obligation. Now that said, you don’t have to wake up early even if you think you “should.”  Being a “Morning Person” is bullshit. All these high achievers tell you to WAKE UP EARLY and get your day started. They tell you to rise and shine bright n’ early. Man, fuck that. These people are moronic. Look, what works for one person in their routine may not necessarily work for another. I mean heck, if waking up groggy eyed the minute the sun rises is your cup of tea, then more power to you. I’m not saying “Don’t wake up early.” I’m saying “wake up when you want to” More important than waking up at the ass crack of dawn is choosing to start your day at a specific time. Sleep in if you want, but wake up with purpose, then follow a structure. I mean think of all the people working a night shift job. It’s not like they have much of a choice in waking up early. Morning is their bed time. I certainly don’t; work a night shift job (or any job for that matter) but I follow that sort of sleep pattern. Wake up late. Stay up late. Rinse. Repeat. That’s the idea that these people are trying to push - establishing a pattern that gets you into the flow of achieving your goals. You don’t need to wake up early in order to do that at all and that whole notion of “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” is complete and utter nonsense. Everyone gets the same twenty four hours Doesn’t matter if you're Ellon Musk, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson or some bum on the couch, you get the same amount of hours in a day. You have the power to plan those hours accordingly. You choose the goalpost and decide the path to get there. You take slow n steady steps towards your long-term goals every single day. You create small daily routine habits that lead to breaking big achievements.  Balance The final part of the equation in an effective routine is balance. You shouldn't be grinding your ass off to the point where you burn out. While doing something practical, with purpose, is important, there's only so much energy you have The key is to do just enough to be productive while maintaining plenty of leisure to rejuvenate. Success is blood, sweat, tears...and snores! Sometimes, you do need to just relax, take it easy, and not do anything productive. Give yourself time to take a break once in a while. But don't take a break too long. Remember your purpose. An ideal routine is balanced between doing your mission and lounging around, completely embracing your laziness in leisure. You don't have to do much, just enough to make slow n' steady progress towards your BIG goal. Put your mind and body at ease once in a while, release your tension and stress. Call upon your inner sloth spirit animal to forget about any sort of purpose or structure for a bit. Then roll right back into fulfilling your dreams, slowly but surely. Meditation is a perfect way to get into a Balance Mode -- taking time to completely engulf yourself in your deep inner-calm. What you want to achieve though is a tranquil and present state of mind, unfazed by distractions, unworried by struggles. You want to be able to focus on what you need to do while simultaneously relaxing and letting it go. Use a break to remind yourself that you're headed in the right direction and everything's good. Use it to clear your mind of any negativity. You must move forward, but you must also stop and breathe. When you structure your routine, be sure it has a balance between driven purpose and total relaxation.  You don’t need to save the world every day, but hey, staying on the couch may just save a life or two during the quarantine.
Look at how your actions (or inactions) fit into the bigger picture. Find your purpose. Then structure your life to make yourself fit into that picture. Knowing what you want, why you want it (purpose), and how you’re going to get it (structure) is the main aim at establishing a routine, no matter how lazy it is. Don’t let this mess of a pandemic bring you down. Get together your routine and relax on into it. Next week, we'll dive into the many lazy and awesome options you have during the quarantine, despite whatever lack of freedom you may be feeling. Subscribe to the newsletter below, so you don't miss it Take it easy, N8 The death toll from Coronavirus is on the rise.
City streets are empty. Grocery shelves are barren. People are wearing impromptu masks. 2020 has really turned into quite the “perfect vision” of footage from an apocalypse film. And how do you survive this crazy global pandemic? Do you create your own homemade mask? Do you stock up on TP and hand sanitizer? Well, fellow procrastin8r, simmer down a tad and don’t panic, because the survival tactic for this Coronapocalypse is actaully quite easy: Embrace your Laziness and stay the fuck home. Now for some, this is a tall order, but for us procrastin8rs, this really isn’t asking for much of a change from us. Staying inside on the couch all day? Christ, our lifestyle is quarantine. But I get it, for some this can be torture, especially for those who are super extroverted and in need of stimulating social events. This quarantine is like serving jail time, or even worse. I mean, at least prisoners get a firm end date. We’re sitting here stuck in our houses...perpetually -- “until further notice”. We don’t know when this is going to end. But it will end. Things will get back to “normal”, to the extent at which they can be normal in the aftermath. Eventually. But without a definite “end time” and without even the “option” to go out or do other things, this can leave us feeling a bit...trapped. The lack of choice is really what bothers us (or at least the illusion of lack of choice) Heck, even veteran procrastin8rs, who haven’t seen sunlight in years, begin to feel a bit of “Cabin Fever” when we’re literally forced by a matter of circumstances to never leave the house for an unpredictable amount of time. I mean as a lazy fuck as I am, I still enjoy going out to catch some monsters on PokemonGo or listen to music at a concert or even go play board games at the cafe. Things that I can’t really do during this national shut down. I’m sure you have some hobbies or activities that you miss as well. Human beings are weird and we always want the opposite of what we have. It’s a bit of Grass Is Greener Syndrome. The other side always looks better. Required to wake and go to work 9 to 5? You want to stay at home on the couch all day. Required to stay home on the couch all day? You want to go back to work. Friends invite you to go out to? You just want to just order pizza at home and relax all night A government order tells you to stay home all night? You want to go out. But let’s be honest here, let’s take a look at this, gain some perspective. Let’s realize our GIGS. You don’t miss your job. You know after about a week, you’re gonna hate the grind and hate waking up early. You’re gonna remember why you hate your boss and why customers can be a pain in the ass. You don’t miss going out. You like having the freedom to decide whether or not you will. You know the club scene is gonna tire you out after the initial “party” phase wears off You're just...bored and maybe a little lonely. What you actually miss are these two things:
And for those of you that are work-a-holics or party people, I can assure you that this blog isn’t for you. Anyway, let’s first break down why you miss these things and importance of each of them before we dive into some solutions for fixing them. The Importance of Routine: You miss having routine because it gives you something to do wtih your day; it puts you on a specific path to follow. We like having a sort of destination, as human beings. Waking up early, driving to work, getting yelled at for 8 hours straight. It’s a shitty routine but it at least gives you a sense of structure and a feeling of coziness. That’s really what you miss -- being able to expect what will happen on some level. Having a routine puts structure in our lives You don’t have to be an OCD organization freak to have structure. As a matter of fact, I’d advise against being so obsessed about following a set in stone schedule (eg. bathroom break for 4 minutes). However, it does allow us to focus on doing things we want to do without getting distracted. A routine, the procrastin8r way, is not a firm set a rules, but a flexible guideline. It also doesn’t necessarily need to be productive, though it can be. Further, it doesn’t have to be filled to the brim -- do less with more focus. Having predictable series of events happen in your life gives you a sense of comfort. After all, we as human beings are creatures of habit. It is in our nature, conciously or not, to develop a routine. We might as well make a concious decision about our routine. We get to choose the habits we develop and that’s pretty damn cool. That gives us the freedom to live life and not just go through the motions. We create comfort by following our routines. It gives us a sense of control (especially in this uncontrollable crazy time we’re having in the world right now). Benefits also include having better focus and enabling better time management. A Solid Routine Puts You Into a Flow You do things without even thinking because they’re just part of your routine, part of your habitual lifestyle. It gives you a sort of “mission” to fulfill every day and leaves you feeling accomplished. Now I ain’t sayin’ you gotta wake up at the ass crack of dawn to start your routine. All these people who talk about how you should wake up early, what they mean is you should wake up with purpose. Doesn’t matter if it’s late afternoon or early evening when you wake up, as long as you wake up with purpose. I wake up (usually late afternoon), eat “breakfast”, do a farm run on RuneScape, then play guitar for about an hour. Not exactly a productive routine but hey, it makes me feel like I’m Wake up, as late as you want, knowing what you want to do. That’s important. If you’re gonna watch movies all day. Pick ahead of time what the hell you want to watch. Don’t just fumble through the catalogue for hours on end. Be decisive in your laziness. Decide how you’re gonna sloth it up and stick to it. Waste of time comes from indecision, not laziness. You’re not wasting time if you put it on your schedule/routine deliberately. You’re only wasting time if you “accidentally” do something you didn’t plan on doing, like browse memes all day. Browsing memes all day is not necessarily a “waste of time” -- only if you planned to do something else. Procrastinate with Purpose, fam. Having a routine does not mean you’re anal about your time, it means you’re efficient. You can always allow some leeway within your routine, but having some definite course of action (or inaction for that matter) puts you on your way toward accomplishing the things you want to accomplish (whether that’s truly productive or not). Remember, you don’t miss your job. You miss having a series of consistent tasks on the daily. In designing your own routine, you’ll find those nostalgic feelings about sitting at the desk will quickly fade. The Importance of Having Options We are creatures of free will. We like to lay out our options and choose whatever tickles our fancy -- in our relationships, in our career, and of course, in our daily life. The one aspect that sets us apart from other animals on the planet is that we are creators of our own destiny and can conciously decide the direction we are going. Having our choice made for us, or very well limited, makes us feel imprisoned. But the only imprisonment is of one own’s mind. "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the guts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." - Viktor Frankl You are only as trapped as you believe yourself to be. You can always make a choice, even when there’s a Stay at Home order. You don’t “have to” do anything. There isn’t anything you “should” do. Quit shoulding yourself! It’s not a matter of having to do one certain thing, it’s a matter of deciding if you want to face the consequences of not doing said thing. Life is not a series of obligations, it’s a series of choosing which consequences you want to deal with, and in knowing you chose those consequences as a preference, it gives you no real room to complain about it. Besides, worrying and complaining is a lot of work. I don’t want to say “suck up and deal with it” but I will say “just stop giving a fuck”. Stop giving a fuck about anything in your life that is beyond your control. There’s a virus. Can’t control that. You can control your reaction to it though. You do not “have to” react a certain way but can use your own discretion. You are a human being, not a machine. You’re not programmed to follow a certain protocol. You have motherfucking free will. Use it to make a decision for yourself. You can choose to face getting sick or even getting a ticket for choosing to go out roller skating. It’s up to you. Staying the Fuck Home is the Smart choice. It not only benefits you personally, both health wise and financial wise, but also other people. I mean maybe you don’t get sick and show no symptoms, but you do get infected and can easily spread it to others and cause someone to die of it, maybe even someone your close to , a friend or relative. It’s the Butterfly Effect, man. One little thing can lead to large scale consequences. So you choose to stay home. You can then choose to be bummed out about it, as in downbeat and sad, or you can choose to be bummed out about it, as in embracing your laziness and loving every moment. You don’t have to be dead just because you’re inside all day. And you certainly don’t have to feel “trapped” I mean heck, there’s a comfy couch or a cozy bed. There’s WiFi. There’s a fridge of food. There’s gaming systems, phones. You got plenty of options when it comes to deciding what to do during another day in Apocalyptica. The modern day house is basically a freaking an indoor arcade. C’mon now! Anyhoot! In the coming weeks, we’ll dive into the specifics of building a solid routine as well as what options you have to stave off boredom and cabin fever. But in the mean time, just stay the fuck home and wash your damn hands! Death is inevitable
Fuck it. We gonna die anyway. Might as well live NOW! During this pandemic, we come face to face with Death. We are reminded of our own mortality, that our time here is in fact limited. Coronavirus is a reminder to us that there are only so many days we have, despite how much we’d like to believe they are unlimited. You think to yourself: "Shit, if this were the end, what the fuck have I been doing in my life? What really have I been so worried about?" Because when Death is on the horizon, when an apocalypse is blooming, you realize all the problems you've been stressing over in your "normal" life mean fuck diddly squat compared to well…dying! In this pandemic, you start missing the little awesome things about your so-called "boring mundane life" that you actually took for granted. Likewise, you start placing importance on the relationships you have with the people in your life that you otherwise typically didn’t appreciate all that much. Facing your own death allows you to focus on what actually fucking matters. It lets you appreciate the little things that are worth giving a damn about. You start doing the things you wanted to do, that make you feel alive, as if it's your last chance to do them... • Reaching out to friends, family, and lovers just to see how their doing • Visiting neighbors to see if they need help. • Taking long tranquil walks in nature. • Relaxing in plenty of leisure time, without thinking of obligations or work • Learning a new skill. • Reading plenty of books. • Beating that video game that's been sitting on your shelf for ages. • Finishing that Netflix series that's been on your "to watch" list since last decade (which was only a few months ago but still) • Meditating to stay calm. Ah, if only we could live like it was the apocalypse all the time. You can. And you should. Coronavirus or not, you could die tomorrow. Your death is inevitable. Sorry. Not sorry. You gonna die. As a matter of fact, there are only two guarantees in life. First, there will always be change. And second, your time will come (when your existence is over). We all experience unavoidable changes until death knocks at our door. That’s life. The key is to make the best of those changes and appreciate what we have in the present, before doom arrives at our doorstep. The thought of death is not something we like to think about. It sounds depressing, but only if you don’t really “get it”. Like it or not, it is something that is going to happen to all of us See, there is value in contemplating one’s own destined fate. Thinking of our own death instills a bit of “oh shit” panic within us and that can be the motivation we need to live a fulfilling life. Use that "panic" as positive energy to get your shit together. Use that "oh shit" moment to humble yourself over your problems. Use that "well, fuck" moment to appreciate what you already have, every single day. And constantly put yourself in that "oh shit" moment, constantly tell yourself that death is a thing, as a reminder...to actually fucking live (in the present) and never take things for granted, never fail to be thankful for what you currently have. Human beings are weird and we tend to place more value in the things we lose than the things we gain. There was actually a study that showed people get more emotionally charged when they lose money as opposed to gaining it. Appreciate what you have in the moment and realize you could lose it in the next. You could lose everything today (in death). Let that inspire you to appreciate what’s currently in your possession from moment to moment, day to day. Let that inspire you to make the most of what ya got. We often live our lives in the past, swimming around in thoughts of regret, or we live them in the future, worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet. This isn’t living, but imagining. You can imagine things your whole life and next thing ya know, it’s over. If we’re not present in the moment, then we are already dead and simply buried later. If we go through the motions, without “stopping to smell the roses”, procrastinating a little, and breathing in, we only tick away valuable seconds of our death clock. Look... Nothing matters. Really it doesn't. You'll die one day and so will the people who remember you. You and everyone you know, everyone you ever meet will be long forgotten some day. None of us get out of this thing called life alive. So what are you stressing over, really? What impact does it have in the grand scheme of things? None. Your a tiny spec of the universe that will be long forgotten a century from now. Stop trying hard to get things perfect and just enjoy the thrill of living -- in the present. How can you ever worry about anything? How can you ever fail to appreciate what you have, in the present? How can you live in the past through thoughts of regret or the future through thoughts of anxiousness? How can you do ANY of this bullshit...Knowing you will some day you will die. It's a waste of time. It’s waste of energy. It’s just a complete and utter waste -- of life! "To die is to live and to live is to die" Once you face death, no, once you embrace it, cherish it, love it, then living becomes much more fulfilling. If you look at Death straight in the eye and tell that bastard "I know you're coming for me. I'll be ready for it," then you will release your "dead" existence and live like... an actual human being. Many people kill themselves decades before being buried, walking around like a fucking zombie. They barely give their daily routine a second thought, following tasks like a programmed machine without any conscious reflection on what’s going on in the world around them, regurgitating the same conversations with the same people without developing real human connection, or staring at their phones without taking a look at who or what is around them. But once you come to terms with your death, it makes no sense to live life that way. It makes absolutely no sense to live life like you’re immortal, when you are in fact mortal. You don’t have time to be dead while you’re alive. Playing dead before you die is a fool's game. Nearly every person on their deathbed when asked about their regrets, talk about what they DIDN'T do, not what they did do. The mistakes you make, the fuck ups, the shit you put yourself through. Guess what, fam? That's LIVING!!!! Think of a child playing on the playground, scraping his knee. He cries for a bit. Mommy kisses it better. Then he gets back to playing. He forgets about the "boo boo" Don't let a fall or scrape keep you from playing in the playground of life. Don't let mistakes or the fear of them keep you from living your best life. Use "kisses from Mommy," Mother Nature to heal. Meditate. Find your center again. Then go out n' play in the world again. Have fun! You only get one chance to play in the playground of life. Doesn't matter if you believe in heaven or hell. Or the river of Styx Or that you'll reincarnate as a sloth. Or just turn to dust. Doesn't matter what the outcome of "Death" brings. Whatever happens, it's the end to what you are currently experiencing. It only makes sense to make this experience right here, right now, worthwhile, to focus on what actually does matter within it. What happens on the other side is debatable. But what happens on this side, that's completely up to you. As Robert Greene says-- You have two different “times” in your life: Alive time and Dead time. You choose to be “alive” and actively participate in life -- mentally, emotionally, physically or to be “dead”and let life pass you by. It’s not necessarily about “working hard” to live a good life; being “lazy” does not mean you are dead but mindlessly struggling without contemplating meaning behind your actions does. Relax your mind and cherish each and every moment you’re here; take advantage of embracing your laziness and doing what you want. Live in desire and joy, rather than “kill” yourself in obedience and obligation. You cannot choose whether or not to die. But you can choose whether or not to live. People say “You Only Live Once. YOLO!” No, you only DIE once. You live every day. Chase your dreams. Enjoy the progress.. Treat your friends, family, and lover like it's the last you'll ever see them. This day could be your last. I'll repeat that again for dramatic effect: This day could be your LAST. One more time, for the people in the back: THIS day could be your last. I don't say that to sound dreadful, but to inspire you to ask yourself the question: Do I feel fulfilled with how I lived it if that were true? As the Stoics say "Memento Mori" Remember Death As ProcrastiN8rs say: "Fuck it. Do what you want, man" “You could leave life RIGHT NOW.” But would you have really lived it? |
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