I stole this from max--(my favorite underground photographer-see right column) He is wise and he came to this realization so we don't have to.. so read up and don't complain to me that's it's to long..
Today we're going to talk about learned helplessness. (hopefully I'm not repeating myself here, I do that a lot).
In a study they took 2 sets of dogs and both were subjected to electric shocks. One set of dogs was given a complex way to turn off the electric shock which they soon figured out. The other set of dogs just had to endure it. They then took both sets of dogs and put them in new boxes. Both dogs were shocked and both dogs could turn the current off with a simple press of their nose on a bar. The dogs that had learned earlier that they could turn off the electric shock soon figured out how to do it. The dogs that weren't allowed to turn off the shock earlier simply lay down without trying. The researchers termed this: "learned helplessness".
It's something I've seen a lot of lately around artists. To me artists are like sharks. The myth is that sharks have to keep swimming forward or they die. Doing anything on your own requires a sense of forward motion. Whether it's working out, doing art or starting your own business, if you hit a point where it seems like all of your effort is providing no change, you're in danger of learned helplessness. The feeling that for all of your effort, it's just not quite enough to get you over the edge. That you are swimming in the ocean with no land in sight.This is the danger. Not that you fail, but that you get to this point.
It takes a lot of forms, sometimes you just lay down, sometimes you get cynical and bitter and take potshots at other people. The worst part is, you develop reasons not to try anything.
If you feel like you're getting to this point or can see it coming down the road, you might want to think of some changes.
tips for dealing with learned helplessness
1. change something up. If at first you don't succeed, try try again. If that doesn't work, go around. What is your version of going around?
2. take a break and do something that has clear achieveable goals. I wondered why I used to play videogames so much during frustrating songwriting periods and the reason is because videogames have clear goals which can be achieved with effort. That and I like videogames. Maybe you should paint a room or fix something that's been bugging you. Try something that pairs effort with reward. It's a bit like dog training yourself.
3. take stock of your situation and ask yourself if you've actually arrived already. I know a couple very successful people who don't feel like they've arrived because they either set the bar higher then where they're at or they can't shake that feeling that they're fooling everyone and that it will all go away in a second. Sometimes we spend our whole life running away from who we were in junior high.
4. take a break in general. Even though it doesn't feel like you can, for the most part, life is like a basketball game, you take shots, you make them or miss them, but it's how you play the game over the long haul. Take mini breaks. If you work too hard and burn yourself out, you will be much less productive.
5. get help. Trying sucks. Work sucks. It sucks less when you fight it together. If you can, build a team to do what you're trying to do. Work out in pairs.
6. the most important thing though is to fight learned helplessness and keep trying. It might not mean trying whatever you're doing now, but it means never stop trying to improve yourself, your life, your world. You stop moving, you stop trying, you camp, you will stagnate.
7. shock cats instead of dogs when doing experiments.
As always, I write these words from the trenches of my own battles. Pimpin ain't easy. :)
Here's to everyone who never quit when things got hard.
