Overthinking and how to nobble it
Dec. 19th, 2010 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andygatesAn interesting study has been going the rounds (Ars has the clearest writeup) and its got me thinking. Not about M&Ms -- well, mmm, now you mention it -- not about M&Ms but about thinking and doing, and why I'm so very good at adhockery and starting projects and so very bad at follow-through and finishing things.
I'm very, very good at task visualisation. I know exactly how the finished bathroom will look: I've gone over all the details of every job but I just can't find the gumption to make it physical. I know exactly what that training session will be like but, meh, maybe I'll just surf for a bit (million-tab baby, baby: if I could I'd twinscreen each eye separately). And yeah, I know exactly what healthy food I'll do tonight but meh, I've already thunk that, let's have dirty pizza instead. I've turned into Grampa from the Lost Boys: read the TV guide, don't need the TV.
Let's assume for a moment that this article provides a working hypothesis: if I think about things less, I'll do more. I may even fall into fewer gumption traps (the most obvious ones are Lane Rage and For Want Of A Bolt) as my planned-stuff is less rigid, so less derailed by unplanned stuff.
How in the seven hells does that actually turn into a thing to do? All I can think to do is make a bunch of to-do lists and spin the bottle, but that's a project and I'll get bored of it after I've worked out the list parameters and upgraded the bottle for some custom dice or maybe made an app for it.
You lot are different think-meats in different heads; barring the solipsistic horror of the entire Universe being my imaginings, you must think in different ways. Do you hypervisualise and then get bored? If you don't... what do you do? Are you always surprised when things work out as expected, because "as expected" is a null set? How do you do anything without the mental map beforehand?
I'm very, very good at task visualisation. I know exactly how the finished bathroom will look: I've gone over all the details of every job but I just can't find the gumption to make it physical. I know exactly what that training session will be like but, meh, maybe I'll just surf for a bit (million-tab baby, baby: if I could I'd twinscreen each eye separately). And yeah, I know exactly what healthy food I'll do tonight but meh, I've already thunk that, let's have dirty pizza instead. I've turned into Grampa from the Lost Boys: read the TV guide, don't need the TV.
Let's assume for a moment that this article provides a working hypothesis: if I think about things less, I'll do more. I may even fall into fewer gumption traps (the most obvious ones are Lane Rage and For Want Of A Bolt) as my planned-stuff is less rigid, so less derailed by unplanned stuff.
How in the seven hells does that actually turn into a thing to do? All I can think to do is make a bunch of to-do lists and spin the bottle, but that's a project and I'll get bored of it after I've worked out the list parameters and upgraded the bottle for some custom dice or maybe made an app for it.
You lot are different think-meats in different heads; barring the solipsistic horror of the entire Universe being my imaginings, you must think in different ways. Do you hypervisualise and then get bored? If you don't... what do you do? Are you always surprised when things work out as expected, because "as expected" is a null set? How do you do anything without the mental map beforehand?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-12-20 01:40 am (UTC)Of course, problems arise when something comes along that either does not fit into my current universe map or would prove impossible to create as the required changes to my existing universe model would prove too problematic for whatever reason. In such situations I tend to strop out a tad, or just become belligerently inflexible. And because explaining my reasoning would require an explanation as to how an entire universe map doesn't work with whatever the thingummy is that causes the issue, it's pretty damned difficult/depressingly horrible to try to make others understand what's causing the issues.
Come to think of it, this does sound like semi- to fully-autistic behaviour. Try putting an autistic person into a situation which is outside of their understanding of how things *SHOULD* be and you can expect a major tantrum. OK, I don't melt down quite like that but same sort of thing. Any of my past actions make more sense now?
But to answer your question, sometimes the act of visualising an event and altering my universe view is all that I need to assume that the change is now a physical reality as well. So yes, it can be difficult to make that reality fully manifest and so things don't necessarily get finished when I can see the end is in sight. And if you think I will repeat something I have already done (like type this post out again once Firefox crashes) you can completely forget it!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-20 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 03:41 pm (UTC)2. Work out where to get materials
3. Work out where to get manpower
4. Work out how to finance the operation
5. Design boat
6. So we have all resources, manpower, finances and locations available to build the boat. Oh look, a butterfly! *wanders off*
no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 10:47 pm (UTC)I have a wiki on my keyring memory stick. It has a section called "crackpot projects". You have to scroll to see the whole listing. I have no section called "completed projects".