Reading time: 3 min
Slowness is a decrease in the speed of thinking, cognitive and cognitive processes. Activity slowness and delay in decision making are also distinguished. In general, this category can be characterized as a decrease in reaction speed, relative to the speed of most people.
It is this personality quality that leads to general unfulfillment, a feeling of lack of success and full life only in your own thoughts and plans. The slowness of adults has always left them in middle positions, but the slowness of children forces them to turn to specialists and look for various organic disorders. Because in many ways speed mental processes determines a person’s survival and his implementation in society, slowness is regarded as a pathology or symptom characterizing a negative state.
Signs of slowness include the inability to concentrate on one task at hand; such people constantly need to be distracted by social feed news or watching programs. The following points include breaking a variety of temporary arrangements, be it paying bills or meeting friends. You can often notice that a person loses the chance to buy something on a promotion, catch a departing bus, or win in a promotion randomly organized near his home. All this happens due to the need for a long time to think about what is happening and make decisions.
Reasons for slowness
Just as the manifestations of slowness are varied, the reasons for such a worldview cannot be identified by one factor. Slowness of thinking can be caused, which directly reflects strength and dynamics nervous system. Temperamentally strong types react faster, but phlegmatic and melancholic people tend to immerse themselves in long thoughts or simply give a less quick reaction.
It influences temporary indicators of slowness, and does not determine it as a permanent quality. Thus, while doing boring and uninteresting work, a person will be constantly distracted, and even if there are no interesting activities at hand (free Wi-Fi or an old acquaintance), thoughts will uncontrollably flow into topics that are more emotionally significant.
Another temporary indicator that increases slowness is the objective difficulty of the work or the person’s subjective fear of not being able to cope. In the case of real complexity, such activities always require greater concentration and effort, often simultaneously familiarizing themselves with new information, which reduces the rate of productivity. When an activity is easy, but there is a fear of not being able to cope, a person tends to recheck his decisions several times, which increases total time work.
When faced with difficult or global problems, it is common for a person to delay the start of action as long as possible, believing that by magical failure to notice everything will be solved on its own. No life experience can force a person to immediately begin developing a plan of action if, when looking at a task, he feels incompetent. There will be attempts to shift responsibilities, look for workarounds, some are subject to psychosomatic disorders, and only then, when all the deadlines are approaching, they make decisions and naturally do not have time.
More serious factor What shapes characterological slowness is the family and the characteristics of upbringing. In authoritarian families, where any activity of the child stops, the individual develops the behavior of stopping his own manifestations.
Growing up, such people are afraid to take a step, to express their desires and preferences, instinctively fearing punishment and parental prohibition, even if it has long been no longer relevant for a mature person. In addition to stopping one's activities, slowness is a form of passive protest against conventions and demands of stronger ones (in childhood all adults). Lacking the resources for open confrontation, the only method that allows a child to regulate unpleasant moments is to postpone.
Reluctance to something, as in childhood, may well be present in adults, and not every person has learned to refuse unpleasant moments. A girl who dreams of getting married will go on all dates, even with those she doesn’t like, but will be late. A guy who is “sick” of his place of work will delay all project deadlines time after time. Such things do not happen on purpose, the subconscious is simply looking for ways to stop the unpleasant moments of life, and if this cannot be done directly, then it turns on slowness in order to at least prolong the period of onset of undesirable moments.
Mental disorders related to the section of pathopsychology, in some cases, manifest themselves through slowness. This may include depressive disorders when a person is severely emotionally and physically exhausted and is not able to react with the required speed, in addition, there is a lack of interest in external events, and in order for them to provoke some kind of activity, a greater amount of effort and incentives are needed. Apathy, thinking disorders and general mental exhaustion - medical reasons manifestations of slowness.
Disturbances in the central nervous system caused by alcohol consumption narcotic substances, organic lesions the brain also forms a slower pace of thinking. This part is adjusted solely for early stages, after which the violations are fixed and become irreversible.
And the last reason for slow thinking is due to physiological processes aging of the body, when not only cognitive functions, but absolutely all systems of the body begin to work at a reduced pace. You should learn to accept this option as a given, since all that can be done is to slow down the decline in usual indicators, but not completely stop the process.
How to deal with procrastination
Slowness is annoying not only in the context of the behavior of others, the person himself, who does not have time and misses life, is also not very pleased with this state of affairs. But the presence of such a feature is incorrigible only in some cases; in most cases, you can deal with slow thinking and reactions using psychological techniques yourself or with the support of a psychotherapist.
You should start with the simplest planning of your time for the short and long term. Techniques, the ability to highlight the main thing and create motivation for yourself will be an excellent help. The most important things that are significant in the context of a long time should always come first in plans. The schedule must be structured, otherwise, instead of saving time and resources, you can get the opposite result, when the nails are painted, the dust is wiped off, all friends are met, but the candidate’s defense, the defense of which a week later, lies in the “raw” version. The timing of each activity must also be written down - the schedule cannot be floating, otherwise the tendency to procrastination, due to habit, will take its toll.
Remembering that slowness is caused by reluctance to perform activities and negative emotions from the possible occurrence of the need it is worth creating own motivation. You can search positive points, introduce an element of play, competition, personal gain, think about the consequences of what you have done, or even just promise yourself a reward (a trip to the cinema, a day of laziness, a meeting with friends, etc.). In addition to finding motivation, it is necessary to fight hesitation in taking the first steps. The longer the smallest details are weighed, the harder the decision is made, the more time it takes, although in practice everything will turn out completely different, no matter how much you calculate the risks. It is necessary to leave a certain amount of uncertainty and be able to take action despite the lack of guarantees.
You can arrange competitions with yourself or involve other people in this - it is important to increase the speed of doing things every time. Rivalry forces you to put aside all the buzzing gadgets, not pick up the phone for unnecessary calls and not look at new styles at passers-by. The maximum concentration inherent in athletes is largely explained by the moments of competition. Even if there is no one to compete with, it is impossible to exceed the execution speed due to technical reasons, it is necessary to take on the work at the point when it appears. Even if the project seems large and your own skills are insufficient, you need to immediately deal with the difficulties in the process, breaking one problem into several step-by-step ones.
In cases where slowness is provoked by psychopathological conditions and organic lesions, there is no need to use psychological techniques, first you need to eliminate physiological reason, if possible. To do this, you need to get advice from several specialists and only after completing the course general therapy, seek advice from a psychologist.
The help of psychotherapeutic specialists will be relevant in cases where the slow pace of thinking is due to childhood psychotrauma or an initially unfavorable education system. With individuals whose harmonious development was disrupted by the social environment without the possibility of recovery, sometimes you have to work for more than one year, overcoming established behaviors.
Speaker of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"
It is believed that people are fast and slow and that it depends on their character. On personal experience I see that it's not a matter of character, but at least, not one hundred percent. In this article, we will look at two of the many reasons why a person may be slow, and how to fix it if someone is struggling with it. Just don’t think that slowness is bad. Very often, slowness is the sister of perseverance and carefully done work. But there are areas of life in which slowness becomes an enemy.
Once, in a clothing store, I watched a woman saleswoman who was simply amazingly quickly selling the goods, which made me and a dozen other people standing in line with her incredibly happy. I praised her out loud. IN in this case being fast is great!
Right there in another department, another woman was doing exactly the same work with colossal slowness, her movements reminding me of a lazily swimming jellyfish. I don’t want to say anything bad about this woman, she was young and pretty, but because of her work, there was already a decent queue of people shifting from foot to foot and sighing.
It would seem that the facts are clear: there are fast man and there is a slow one, but everything is not so simple.
I have good news for those people who have a hard time being slow and would like to change it: change is possible! Because a person’s speed or slowness depends, for the most part, on his life circumstances and on the goals he achieves.
The best example of this that I know of is my own life.
My life before marriage was not particularly busy. There was enough time to do my things carefully and without rushing. But with the advent of children (especially after the first three), it seemed to me that I would simply be torn apart from the amount of work that needed to be done, but I really didn’t have time for very much , although we had everyone in our house the necessary conditions: plumbing, gas, heating, household appliances and the like.
This made me think and try to find a way out. I noticed that in another family with the same number of children, everything turns out somehow differently. I began to observe the mother of the family and saw that her activities were distinguished by enviable speed and success. I soon realized what the matter was: while doing the same thing, she and I were pursuing different goals. For example, she was peeling vegetables for soup, trying to do everything as FAST as possible, and I tried my best to peel as much as possible. thinner skin("economy" absorbed from childhood), that is, her goal is quickly done things, and mine is economically done things. Unfortunately, most often it is impossible to achieve both goals at the same time.
So, first reason, why a person can be slow: he has not set himself the goal of doing everything FAST, but pursues other goals that exclude speed.
Having realized what you need to set for yourself target to do something quickly, I was faced with the fact that it didn’t work out very well, because I I'm not used to it to this pace of work. Set yourself up for speed, quickly take on something, oh, great! But literally after a few minutes you imperceptibly slow down and go to your normal pace of work, because you simply FORGET about speed.
That's why, second reason Slowness is the absence of a strong habit
do your business quickly. It takes time and serious effort for the corresponding skill to appear.
Now this already developed habit helps me a lot: when I have a cluster of things to do with a minimum of time (and this happens often!), I just intensify and try to do everything as quickly as possible. Sometimes, for better motivation, I set myself a time limit: for example, redo something in an hour.
Helps. You can use a timer for convenience. And sometimes I “complicate” circumstances for myself in order to motivate speed. For example, I put the frying pan on the stove even before I cleaned and chopped the vegetables for frying. I only have a couple of minutes to clean and chop while the pan gets hot. The result is excellent!
Therefore, if you want to become faster in your work, make it a goal to be fast and develop the habit of hurrying.
Do you have time to redo all the things while he is doing one thing? What is the name of a slow person who slowly completes any task? What do you call a leisurely person who completes a task carefully and step by step?
The so-called “snail”, a slow person, is called - kopusha. We don't use this word very often these days. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers actively used it in colloquial speech, kindly “calling names” for the slow.
Why kopusha - where did this name come from?
Like almost any Old Church Slavonic word, “kopusha” was invented in the course of everyday life. It is formed from the verb “to rummage” - to carefully rummage somewhere, in some things.
Initially, those who “rummaged” in their ears were called diggers. Then, over time, the name migrated and began to apply to anyone who simply does something slowly and concentratedly.
The word is applied to both masculine and feminine. Not used in official correspondence. He has an abusive, but slightly affectionate character.
In the late 90s and early 00s, slow, clumsy children were called copushes. The word was most often used in one way or another by women - mothers or grandmothers.
Synonyms of the word “kopusha” - what is another name for a slow person
Along with this funny expression, leisurely people were previously called “droppers”, “dryers” and “diggers”.
There were no copushes before - why?
By the way, several decades ago it was generally not customary to do something for a long time and with too much concentration. Remember how soviet people“we ran according to plan”, trying to get everything done. By the way, even now, when communicating with these people, I want to ask the question: “Where are you in a hurry?”
By inertia, they try to “embrace the immensity”, set a lot of tasks (sometimes completely inappropriate), and carry them out according to the schedule.
On the other hand, the rush of people of those times is quite understandable. Previously, there were indeed much more tasks than now. At a minimum, due to technical underdevelopment.
What it took to wash all the clothes, vacuum and beat out the carpets, wash all the dishes without any “electronic” assistants. It should be taken into account that before this, as a rule, a shift at the factory was worked out, and homework was done with the children.
By the way, parasitism was not encouraged in principle. You could always find work, but those who didn’t work were only scoundrels and lazy people.
So surprisingly, according to time and current “traditions,” the word appeared, and then practically disappeared from the language.
If a person behaves, in our opinion, strange or eccentric, this does not always mean that he suffers from some kind of mental disorder, as we used to think. It is very common to hear people call someone mentally retarded or paranoid without thinking about the meaning of the words being spoken. But this can have a negative impact on those who actually have mental health problems.A misconception about exactly how a particular disease manifests itself can cause a person to refuse help when he really needs it. In this article, you will learn about ten mental illnesses and disorders that we sometimes misunderstand.
1. Bipolar affective disorder(BAR)
What it is not: Many people mistakenly associate bipolar affective disorder (BID) with mood swings. It is often attributed to pregnant women who first scream at their unsuspecting husbands, and then hug and kiss them as if nothing had happened.
What it really is: People suffering from bipolar affective disorder periodically experience bouts of mania, which are characterized by excessive excitability, a surge of strength and energy, increased activity and energy.
To those around them, the manic state in which people with bipolar disorder find themselves does not seem so bad from the outside. In reality, it poses a real problem for those affected by it. In addition to the symptoms listed above, a person with bipolar disorder may also experience hallucinations and delusions. Moreover, when the period of enthusiasm and euphoria passes, depression begins (sadness, apathy, hopelessness, loss of interest in ordinary activities etc.), which after some time again gives way to mania.
2. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
What it is not: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common diagnosis among children. When a child cannot concentrate on studying, doing basic housework and other things, adults begin to sound the alarm and immediately run to the doctor for advice. They believe that if their child is not interested in in a certain form activity, is constantly distracted by something or shows excessive agitation and energy, which means he has developed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In reality, all this is a sign normal development child.
What it really is: Those who suffer from ADHD find it difficult to focus on one activity, even if they enjoy it. They are unable to finish what they start because they are constantly distracted by the slightest irritants. They lack concentration, which makes it extremely difficult for them to organize their activities.
ADHD is also characterized by symptoms such as hyperactivity and impulsive behavior. Children suffering from this disorder are unable to sit still for long periods of time, talk too much, and are reckless and impatient. There are no prohibitions for them. Changes in diet and daily routine, appropriate therapy and taking certain medications will help you get rid of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. medicines.
3. Dissociative identity disorder (DID)
What it is not: We behave differently in every situation. The quiet, polite administrative assistant working at the club on the weekends can turn into the wildest animal you've ever met in your life. However, this does not mean at all that he suffers from dissociative identity disorder (DID; split personality disorder). The same applies to teenagers who communicate normally with friends, but are constantly rude and rude to their parents.
What it really is: With dissociative identity disorder, a person “switches” from one personality to another, and he often finds it difficult to remember what he did while his other “I” was active.
Areas of difference between these individuals may include behavior, speech, thoughts, and even gender identity. People with DID often experience depression; they experience suicidal tendencies, anxiety, confusion, memory problems, hallucinations and disorientation.
4. Narcotic or alcohol addiction
What it is not: Drug addicts and alcoholics are usually thought of as people who lack willpower and self-control, but this is not the only problem. If you couldn't resist eating a couple of extra chocolate cakes during lunch, does this mean that you are addicted to them? Consuming sweets in excessive quantities, watching TV from morning to night, and repeatedly listening to songs by the same artist have much more in common with willpower and self-discipline than drug or alcohol addiction.
What it really is: Drug addiction and alcoholism are serious mental illnesses in which a person experiences an irresistible craving for a particular substance. He is unable to stop, so he continues to use it even though it interferes with his normal life and leads to social or interpersonal problems.
As mentioned above, drug addicts and alcoholics are sick people, so they need treatment and help from outside.
5. Tourette's syndrome
What it is not: Tourette syndrome is often attributed to those children who sit in the back of class and shout “purple dinosaur” when the teacher asks them to name the capital of New York State. Your friend who doesn't filter his thoughts before they come out of his mouth may actually be holding back and finding the right words, but he just doesn't want to. If you insult someone or swear, while realizing that it is stupid, then Tourette syndrome has nothing to do with it. In this way you are trying to justify your bad manners and bad behavior.
What it really is: Tourette syndrome (TS) is a disorder characterized by multiple motor tics (at least one of which is verbal). These include rolling your eyes, licking your lips, tugging at your clothes, twirling a strand of hair around your finger, and so on.
Verbal tics include coughing, grunting, humming without words, stuttering, and coprolalia (impulsive, uncontrollable utterance of vulgar or obscene words).
6. Narcissistic personality disorder
What it is not: Each of us in life has met such a person who was proud of his appearance or mental abilities and thought he was a gift to humanity. However, just because you love yourself and have high self-esteem does not mean you have narcissistic personality disorder.
What it really is: A person with narcissistic personality disorder often acts as if he is the center of the universe, but inside he constantly worries about whether he is good enough in the eyes of others. Such people constantly seek outside approval, but their standards are usually either too high or unreasonably low - but in both cases they consider themselves important people. They do not care about those around them, but they always strive to occupy the main place in the life of every person. People with narcissistic personality disorder need admiration. They love to exploit others.
7. Dissocial personality disorder
What it is not: Probably each of us had a friend who liked to be alone, but what's wrong with that? From time to time, people feel the need to escape from the outside world and be alone with themselves. This is not a mental disorder, but a completely natural need.
What it really is: A person with dissocial personality disorder enjoys hurting other people. He is characterized by manipulativeness, callousness, hostility, impulsiveness, recklessness, indifference and contempt. He never feels remorse and is able to mislead others thanks to his charm and charisma.
8. Anorexia and bulimia
What they are not: Models are often called anorexic just because they are thin, but this has nothing to do with mental illness. There is nothing wrong with following a certain diet and exercising. If you eat foods that upset your stomach or eat too many cookies, it doesn't mean you have bulimia.
What it really is: Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are serious mental disorders, in which a person sees himself differently from the people around him. He thinks that he is too fat or thin, although in reality this is far from the case.
Those with anorexia are afraid to gain a pair extra pounds, so they exhaust themselves with various diets. People with bulimia tend to overeat and try to control their weight by vomiting or using laxatives.
What it is not: Many people are accustomed to calling those who, in their opinion, behave stupidly or express their thoughts unclearly, are mentally retarded. But is this really so?
What it really is: Mental retardation is a delay or incomplete development of the psyche that negatively affects adaptive functioning in conceptual, social and practical areas. Individuals with this disorder learn more slowly and are sometimes unable to master certain skills. They may have problems mastering language, basic mathematics, logical thinking, speech, personal hygiene, task organization, and so on.
10. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
What it is not: Many people mistakenly associate obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with neatness, cleanliness, organization and perfectionism. None of this will be considered a sign mental illness until it begins to unduly influence daily life person.
What it really is: People suffering from OCD constantly try to get rid of intrusive thoughts (related to death, illness, infection, safety, loss of loved ones, etc.) through the same actions called compulsions. Obsessive-compulsive disorder refers to anxiety neuroses. No worries intrusive thoughts and behavior are common human quirks.
Material prepared by Rosemarina - based on website material
- the main obstacle standing on the path to success. Slowness is a “small weakness”, due to which most tasks remain unrealized. It is one of the main reasons for unfulfilled hopes and unfulfilled thoughts and ideas.
Slowness can put an end to career growth the most talented specialist. For a manager or owner of his own business, slowness is fraught with disaster for the enterprise, because in the conditions of modern competition, delay is unacceptable. Yes and for ordinary person who does not hold high positions and does not build a career, slowness can cause problems and various troubles.
That is why, if you can describe yourself as a “slow person,” combating this character trait should be your main task.
How to recognize a slow person in yourself
If you notice that you are constantly looking for something to distract yourself with, you are a slow person. You are haunted by the TV remote control lying next to you, you make coffee for yourself several times an hour and just as often take a smoke break, instead of starting work, you decide to clean your desk, put off doing important things, take on anything - something secondary - you suffer from slowness.
You slow person, if you don’t pay your bills on time, if you don’t cash out on time gift Certificate, if you miss opportunities (for example, you don’t have time to buy a ticket to a concert of your favorite band), if you wait until the last minute to buy gifts, if you submit your tax return late, if...
Having understood the reasons for slowness, the fight against it will become more understandable and effective. The main reasons are:
Indecisiveness, which arises as a result of a person’s desire for perfection or the desire to insure oneself against mistakes and failures, is one of the reasons for slowness.
The complexity of the task and not knowing where to start is often the reason for our slowness. “Will it work, won’t it work?” - this question forces us to put off urgent matters for an indefinite period of time.
Another reason why we procrastinate is because this or that task seems unpleasant to us. Not wanting to do something that is unpleasant for us, we put off doing it and hope that, perhaps, circumstances will change and we will not need to do it at all. As a rule, nothing changes, and in the end we grab onto unpleasant work at the last moment, we perform it poorly and do not meet the deadlines.
Inability to plan your work day and strictly follow the plan (as can be difficult, especially if you have distant work, plan the workday) some consider the main reason why people procrastinate, while others are sure that procrastination is not a matter of planning and meaningful use of time. For example, Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, believes that suggesting that a slow person buy a diary is the same as advising a person suffering from chronic depression to smile more often.
Family environment is one of the reasons for procrastination. A person is not born slow, he becomes one, and sometimes becomes so thanks to his upbringing. If a child is raised by authoritarian parents who do not give the opportunity develop self-discipline skills, realize and realize your own intentions, this can become the basis for the emergence of this character trait. Also, slowness can become the only possible form disobedience (reluctance and unwillingness to do something), protest, which takes root in adult life will become the norm.
Associate Professor and Professor of Psychology at Canada's Carleton University, Timothy Pychyl, believes that slow people are more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs. By doing this, they avoid solving life’s problems and subsequently fall out of life. These bad habits(disease) is the cause of inaction and complete degradation of a person.
There are many reasons, and by and large, few people are able to deny themselves the pleasure of delaying the completion of a complex or unpleasant task even for a short while. But to prevent procrastination from developing into chronic inaction, you should know how to deal with it.
How to deal with procrastination
Get rid of slowness, planning your time will help! By making a plan for tomorrow, at least you won’t be thinking about “Should I do this or not?” When drawing up a plan for the day, it is better to put in first place the things that bring you some discomfort. This will have a positive impact on productivity of your activities.
Setting clear deadlines for completing tasks will help you overcome procrastination. The deadline must be realistic, it’s better to increase it a little than to fuss and be nervous, afraid of not being on time.
If you are procrastinating and hesitant to begin a task because of its complexity and seeming impossibility, break it down into subtasks. Analysis of subproblems usually helps in finding the first step.
Fight slowness with inertia. Start taking action, because it is easier to continue what you started than to move from a dead point.
Self-motivation will help you cope with slowness when doing complex and unpleasant tasks. Imagine what a solved task or a job well done promises you, or, conversely, think about the consequences that will arise if you don’t do something. You can reward yourself for successfully completing a job, say, by going to the movies.
If slowness is a manifestation of indecision and endless consideration of various nuances, you just need to understand that there is a time to discuss and think, and there is a time to act. The time for action comes when any new information can no longer significantly influence the quality of the future solution. In other words, try to obtain complete and reliable information in short term, and then into battle. Adjustments can be made along the way.
Overcome slowness The fear that everything will go wrong can be helped by realizing that if you don't take action at all, the outcome will be much worse. Soberly think and formulate all possible difficulties and provide ways to eliminate them.
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
Loading...