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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2952 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for July 11, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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My family, as much as they love me, still regularly sigh and tell me they wish I was less lazy or had more willpower.

In what contexts?

Firstly, why would I lie about my willpower?

I would not claim that you are lying.

willpower... executive function... conscientiousness

I think these are probably nonidentical concepts, though I would likely have to spend some additional time thinking about it to be able to write on it eloquently.

Whence your urge to find solutions to problems that actually work? When it comes, how does it manifest?

In what contexts?

"Clean your room. Take more driving lessons instead of lazing around. Start studying for the exams you've got ahead of you (this one is rather unjustified these days), don't skip the gym, learn to cook."

Or, in more specific contexts, things like applying for a visa earlier instead of nearly at the last minute.

I think these are probably nonidentical concepts, though I would likely have to spend some additional time thinking about it to be able to write on it eloquently.

I don't think they're identical either. But all 3 have a lot of overlap, the core being something like "doing unpleasant or boring yet necessary things, in a timely manner without prompting".

Whence your urge to find solutions to problems that actually work? When it comes, how does it manifest?

You mean professionally or personally? In the former, I do what any doctor does, defer to guidelines unless I am sufficiently confident in an alternative interpretation or treatment regimen.

The latter? What everyone else does, just later and more half-heartedly. I just told myself I'd go to the gym every other day, and in practise, it's been closer to every 4th day. I just skipped going this weekend despite promises to my dad I wouldn't, and plan to make it up tomorrow.

I also tend to do things at the last minute, and thus rushed as a consequence. Fortunately, I rarely actually let major deadlines slip and then face disaster. But it's stressful to live that way, and I know, on an intellectual level, that I'd be better off not procrastinating.

the core being something like "doing unpleasant or boring yet necessary things, in a timely manner without prompting"

Thanks for the other context above, too. Combined with this, I'm not really sure this is really a matter of willpower/executive function/conscientiousness. It seems a bit more like just the human condition that some things are unpleasant, and different folks make different tradeoffs. I think there are a variety of reasons why folks make different tradeoffs here, too.

Whence your urge to find solutions to problems that actually work? When it comes, how does it manifest? [my question]

I'm not quite sure I've worded this in a way to get at what I'm looking for. The way you made it sound originally, it's like you have some excitement or something for certain types of problems. I was kind of getting Lottery of Fascinations vibes, and wanted to see if it was that sorta thing. I'm not really sure your response gets at that, because I probably didn't word the question well. Things like deferring to guidelines doesn't really seem to fit, unless the idea is that you sometimes rabbit hole down an alternative interpretation that hit the lottery. Or personally, do you just get tweaked by some types of problems or whatever.

I think, big picture, and going back to your earlier comment, you mention that you've lost more weight with diet/exercise in the past. That doesn't really seem to me to be describing someone who just lacks willpower, especially given the assumption (that I am not solidly making) that willpower is the necessary ingredient for such a thing.

Instead, it feels to me to be more of just the typical things of choices and tradeoffs. Like, you said that you'll plan on going hypertrophy über alles post-semaglutide, but hypertrophy sucks, man. I mean, yeah, some people enjoy dreamer bulking (which never really accomplishes the dream) on the diet side, but you still have to lift lots of heavy weights a bunch. Seems a bit weird, since you say that you just don't like the gym. But then, I guess you maybe say you'll do it because you feel like you kind of have to, but that gets back to feeling like a willpower-limited thing again (in the model where willpower is the necessary ingredient). So I don't know. Is there something that makes 'hypertrophy über alles' trip your fascination for finding solutions to problems (because yeah, those exist, and they involve lifting a lot of heavy weights), but that fixing your diet doesn't? Perhaps you could introspect some more on some of the differences and see if you could find relatable components to the problems, see if you could trick your lottery into finding at least something relevant in there to grab your attention.

Maybe I'll start with one little thing. Hypertrophy doesn't work great with a terrible, junky, dreamer bulky diet. I mean, it works okay, but if you're fascinated with the idea of hypertrophy über alles, you might want to consider the problems that it poses... problems which do happen to have solutions which actually work.

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