Life Hack Series.

Yes, I am confessing my shortcomings today, I am a lazy bum and I get horrifyingly jealous of the Facebook photographers. Not only have I learned that photography is super technical, but it needs patience as well. One may assume that lazy people would be more patient, but sadly laziness and patience do not gel well. And hence this jealousy. 😐 I am sure you are not here to learn photography skills, however, if you stay, I can give you a sound tip on how to learn it.

What is the way out?

Did you notice every post in this series combines a useful and entertaining skill? The essence is to balance them. This is also the key to a productive daily schedule, otherwise, we will end up entertaining at our own cost. When we include an invigorating activity, our plan for the day gets more tempting. And that’s the secret.

The confession.

I had Lynda.com free access, and of course Course era, but don’t remember ever completing a full course there. Started many, dragged through a few, and ended up none. Isn’t that a usual cribbing point? Despite the innumerable free resources available online, we tend to let the chance pass. One fine day I will. 😎

In our intensely competitive world, we need multiple talents to thrive. However, laziness, procrastination, and lack of motivation multiply the problem. Even when we try to overcome these, we trudge for a week or so and then give up. Forget the famous 40 days rule, even a week is monumental.

My solution as a lazy bum.

Use one weakness to counter another. For example, I am blessed with ‘curiosity killed the cat’ syndrome. No wonder, I have got my fingers in every pie. Fortunately, I realize this and I use this sticky trait of mine to form a lesson sandwich. Whenever I continue with a topic and lose interest within a month, I initiate a fresh one and get enchanted with the newness of it. Always packaging it in a fresh way, looking for interesting angles, is the other key. One week I’ll be reading material on Virus and Immunity, next it is the turn of photography, then Interior Design, and then a few interspersed days of Sci-Fi related Physics theories.

You got it right, naturally, I’ll learn nothing by reading all kinds of topics. It is just me whetting my curiosity. But did you deduce by now? This is where my lesson sandwich comes into picture. When I repeat my Photography lessons every alternate month, I at least become a jack of one trade. Agreed, mastery is yet too far but the months and years go on, no?

This idea of a lesson sandwich, between enticing activities, is for someone like me. Continuing at one topic for eternity, hmm, not my cup of tea. Yes, I do waste a lot of time this way, but better than staying dumb forever. If you have already tried this with no results, try it again. The trick is to cut the cake in a delicious way, the right amount of frosting to offset the dryness of crumbs. Balancing entertainment with eruditeness. Take care of the ratios, though. 😃 May be a month of dancing can offset a week of HTML mark up language. It all depends on you.

Guess what, photography is not that interesting when it comes to learning aperture and shutter speed. So instead of considering it an entertaining skill, pair it up with one. Understanding which is entertaining and which is not can be tricky at times.

We should focus on one thing at a time, we should form habits, we should prioritize important things… blah blah blah. I agree. But to even reach that level, some extraish ordinary people like me face hurdles. Sorry! but not everyone is born with monk-like steadiness. Thus, tricking the mind is the go-to tool, whenever I need to learn or unlearn something.

If you are too lazy to even start something, then another article is coming soon for you.

Let me know in the comment section, what is that one weakness of yours which you use to counter another.

Hi, I am a life coach and simple tips like these are a part of my arsenal. There are 100s of fixes for every problem, the art is in knowing what goes where. Isn’t that also the difference between knowledge and wisdom? I guess learning this difference is my lifelong dharma. I am passionate about improving people’s lives through coaching or blogging. Feel free to connect with me.