Day 4

Today’s soundtrack: Step by step.....oooo baby...

Today at 11:02pm: I don’t know ‘cause it’s only 7.34pm

Just remembered this book I read, Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid. It’s a fascinating collection of scientific essays that provide psychological breakdowns of stupidity.

I won’t go into the specifics of psychological drives and the acts of satiating them here, but I will mention a couple things. Chapter Four lists a bunch of conditions people can suffer from that may ultimately lead them to do stupid things. I was alarmed to see I possess most of these characteristics. They are:

Impulsiveness - i.e. you’re in the middle of doing something but suddenly decide you need to go out and get a bacon cheeseburger or an angora sweater or laid.

Neglect - The opposite of Impulsiveness. While Impulsiveness implies you act too quickly, Neglect means you act too late or not at all. Is my assignment finished yet? Er, no.

Procrastination - Not quite the same as Neglect, Procrastination means you actively avoid work you have to do, perhaps by busying yourself with other, more trivial things. What should I be doing right now? Working on my assignment . What am I doing right now? Updating my freakin’ online diary.

Vacillation - i.e. dicking around while you’re trying to make up your mind. What should I have for dinner, a Big Mac or a Fried Rice? The Fried Rice is cheaper. But wait, I’m in the mood for a burger. But the burger place is farther. But I had the Fried Rice yesterday. Fuuuuckk...

Backsliding - Backsliding is when you adopt a new practice, but soon lapse back into the established way of doing things. Like saying “I am going to get up early from now on!” and doing it for three days before oversleeping by several hours.

Indulgence - Indulgence implies engaging in excess. Like “Man that chocolate cake was good, I should probably have another 97 helpings of it.” Cigarettes and Tiger ain’t a bad example either.

Overdoing - Overdoing is when you disguise Indulgence as something effortful. Like writing a lot in your online diary under the illusion that writing a lot of anything is better than writing nothing at all.

Well at least now I’ve identified my problem. Or seven of them anyway.