Can't or won't?

Post Reply New Topic

Ah, but we've found that the last century of neuroscience first gave us a false idea that neuroplasticity exists only in children.
It's not useful to think about it as a chicken and an egg question, about what controls what, as our mental being interacts with our physical brains. If someone really wants to do something, you're far more likely to be able to do it. And if it's something that your brain isn't wired to do, it might just rewire itself such that you can do it. That's how learning and habits works, right? Unless you're someone who's incapable of learning, you can alter your brain.
This isn't to say that the current state of your brain is irrelevant to what you can and can't do, not in the least. Nor is it saying that ALL brains can become rewired to be however we want them to be...like, if you've got an autoimmune disease like mine where your immune system can attack your own neurons. Or if you have ASD where they don't know what the hell's going on in terms of cause, but it for sure is something outside of mental control.
I think the biggest problem is the stigma attached to perceived laziness. People usually assume that when someone doesn't do something that it's sheerly because of greed or selfishness. This is where the problem lies. It's the same problem that all of us on WP seem to experience, a total lack of understanding of who we are as individuals from others. The way we fix the problem isn't just to say 'Well, I'm not lazy because it's impossible for me to be different', but to also not jump to conclusions about other's.

I don't know if I've ever known a purely lazy person. Some people come off as lazy but when you get right down to it, they have their reasons too. We all have reasons for doing what we do, and sometimes those reasons are valid and sometimes they're not. Laziness has a negative connotation and it is what we, as society and individuals, call someone who we don't think has an adequate reason to not be doing something, and furthermore, that the something they aren't doing is something that they should do.

Willpower is such a stupid term. It should be called "wantpower".

Congratulations, you've done 1 full load of laundry and 2 partial loads of laundry already today :-p

I think in my case that somewhere genuine laziness and distaste for the activity makes it all even harder, but it does seem like a chicken-and-egg situation. Multi-tasking is hard on neurotypicals too, because of the need to process interruptions and switch back and forth between the data sets and concerns of multiple tasks. Check out this article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=95256794

What I've also noticed about my self is that at work, it's another story. Multi-tasking is not my forte but I do have a keen eye for detail and when push comes to shove I persevere and do a really good job at work, though I work in a hectic, timeline-driven environment. But I guess it's easier to come correct and have a decent work ethic when your livelihood is at stake.