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How To Kill Laziness
Plus: how (and why!) to practice the Barry-get-up exercise
The 10almonds Team
April 21, 2024
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
A moment of unbridled enthusiasm from your writer today: as you may know, at 10almonds we generally practice what we preach. We’re not perfect (for example, my schedule can sometimes be… well, let’s just say, I’m a writer), but we are serious about what we do here and for the most part we do our best to apply it in our own lives too.
On which note… Miswak sticks! Basically, a twig of the Salvadora persica tree that one chews and it cleans one’s teeth with assorted natural medical properties.
Having written about the science of them previously, I finally ordered some myself (I got the ordinary stick kind, not the toothbrush-shaped kind), and… Wow, these are great! It’s like a magic eraser for teeth; my sonic toothbrush and baking-soda toothpaste can’t compete with these. Tastes better too (yes, really) and astonishingly pleasant to use.
/not an ad, just a heartfelt “rave review” 😁
~ N.
⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Do you ever think you (or perhaps someone you know) could solve all your/their problems if you/they could just stop being lazy?
Today’s main feature explores an idea from social psychologist Dr. Devon Price, that laziness is often simply a stack of other things in a trenchcoat, and does not truly exist as a thing-in-itself.
We also give pointers on fixing each element of that stack of other things, where possible, to enjoy plain sailing thereafter!
Losing weight (healthily!) can be a challenge. Keeping that weight off can be even harder.
Today’s sponsor, the Mayo Clinic Diet, is a medically-backed, globally-trusted method that focuses on changing your daily routine by adding and breaking habits that make a difference to your weight.
Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive
🤫 A WORD TO THE WISE
 | Live Longer, BetterLife is marathon, not a sprint (for most of us, at least)! Here are 5 things you can do to improve your healthspan: |
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
How (and why!) to practice the Barry-get-up exercise (3:36)
Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later 🔖
❓ MYSTERY ITEM
Mechanical Release
Hint: today’s mystery item is a different shape for a common health product, but this shape actually takes into account body mechanics, and is an ergonomic improvement on the standard design, which counts for a lot, given its function!
YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…
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🛟 MAIN FEATURE
Laziness Is A Scooby-Doo Villain.
Which means: to tackle it requires doing a Scooby-Doo unmasking.
You know, when the mystery-solving gang has the “ghost” or “monster” tied to a chair, and they pull the mask off, to reveal that there was no ghost etc, and in fact it was a real estate scammer or somesuch.
Social psychologist Dr. Devon Price wrote about this (not with that metaphor though) in a book we haven’t reviewed yet, but will one of these days:
In the meantime, and perhaps more accessibly, he gave a very abridged summary for Medium:
Speaking of barriers, Medium added a paywall to that (the author did not, in fact, arrange the paywall as Medium claim), so in case you don’t have an account, he kindly made the article free on its own website, here:
He details problems that people get into (ranging from missed deadlines to homelessness), that are easily chalked up to laziness, but in fact, these people are not lazily choosing to suffer, and are usually instead suffering from all manner of unchosen things, ranging from…
imposter syndrome / performance anxiety,
perfectionism (which can overlap a lot with the above),
social anxiety and/or depression (these also can overlap for some people),
executive dysfunction in the brain, and/or
just plain weathering “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune [and] the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”, to borrow from Shakespeare, in ways that aren’t always obviously connected—these things can be great or small, it could be a terminal diagnosis of some terrible disease, or it could be a car breakdown, but the ripples spread.
And nor are you, dear reader, choosing to suffer (even if sometimes it appears otherwise)
Unless you’re actually a masochist, at least, in which case, you do you. But for most of us, what can look like laziness or “doing it to oneself” is usually a case of just having one or more of the above-mentioned conditions in place.
Which means…
That grace we just remembered above to give to other people?
Yep, we should give that to ourselves too.
Not as a free pass, but in the same way we (hopefully) would with someone else, and ask: is there some problem I haven’t considered, and is there something that would make this easier?
Here are some tools to get you started:
Take care!
YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Mayo Clinic Diet: effective, practical, and healthy weight loss
Losing weight (healthily!) can be a challenge. Keeping that weight off can be even harder. But, you don't have to do it alone:
The Mayo Clinic Diet is a medically-backed, globally-trusted method that focuses on changing your daily routine by adding and breaking habits that make a difference to your weight.
The benefits are far more than we could list here, but include:
A new digital platform that has helped members lose 3x more weight
A quick-start "lose it!" phrase, where members can lose 6–12 lbs in 2 weeks
Meal plan options that include healthy keto, high protein, vegetarian, and Mediterranean
See also: General Info | Pricing | How it Works | Free Diet Assessment
Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
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📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving: A Guide and Map for Recovering from Childhood Trauma – by Pete Walker
We've written before about Complex PTSD, but there's a lot more to be said than we can fit into an article or two.
Pete Walker, a licensed marriage and family therapist, does an excellent job and pulls no punches, starting from the book's dedication and carrying the hard-hitting seriousness all the way through to the Appendices.
To this end, it absolutely may not be an easy book to read at times (emotionally speaking), especially if you have C-PTSD. On the other hand, you may also find it a very validating 300-odd pages of "Yes, he is telling my life story in words, now this makes sense!"
That said, it's mostly not an anecdotes-based book and nor is it just a feelsy ride; it's also a textbook and a how-to manual. It's a textbook of how and why things come about the way they do, and a manual of how to effectively manage C-PTSD, and find peace. There's no silver bullet here, but there is a very comprehensive guide, and chapters full of tools to use (and no, not the same CBT things you've probably read a hundred times, this is C-PTSD-specific stuff).
Bottom line: this is the C-PTSD book; if you buy only one book on the topic, make it this one.
What did you think of today's newsletter?We always love to hear from you, whether you leave us a comment or even just a click in the poll if you're speeding by! |
Wishing you a peaceful Sunday,
The 10almonds Team
