Whatever happened to doing and completing something because its important to you? This strikes me as seeking approval/validation from others, which I'm not sure would make me feel so good about myself if I indulged in...
Check out "The Motivation Hacker" by Nick Winter (http://www.amazon.com/The-Motivation-Hacker-Nick-Winter-eboo... - $3 ebook) for some reasons why commitment contracts might help - not everyone is that strongly self-motivated, and even strongly self-motivated people can benefit from them.
Willpower is the greatest force in our world and 99.999999% of us have a limited quantity of it. Drugs, alcohol, tobacco addiction; overeating and lack of exercise; not working or studying hard enough. Are you really trying to say anybody can overcome those by "doing and completing something because its important to you"?
Actually, if something is important enough to someone, they are always motivated to do it. Period. No tricks needed. Of course, it's not often in life that one finds things that are that important. Some people never find such things. And that is sad, and sadly common.
We all seek approval and validation from others; it's a fundamental part of the human experience. We all care about the part of ourselves that others see because it's only a part - a tiny fraction.
"The truth is you’ve already heard this. That this is what it’s like. That it’s what makes room for the universes inside you, all the endless in-bent fractals of connection and symphonies of different voices, the infinities you can never show another soul. And you think it makes you a fraud, the tiny fraction anyone else ever sees? Of course you’re a fraud, of course what people see is never you. And of course you know this, and of course you try to manage what part they see if you know it’s only a part. Who wouldn’t?"
Not only that but goals change, and I wouldn't want to end up in a position where I looked like I had failed when in fact I had moved on to other things.
Comments
Whatever happened to doing and completing something because its important to you? This strikes me as seeking approval/validation from others, which I'm not sure would make me feel so good about myself if I indulged in...
Check out "The Motivation Hacker" by Nick Winter (http://www.amazon.com/The-Motivation-Hacker-Nick-Winter-eboo... - $3 ebook) for some reasons why commitment contracts might help - not everyone is that strongly self-motivated, and even strongly self-motivated people can benefit from them.
Willpower is the greatest force in our world and 99.999999% of us have a limited quantity of it. Drugs, alcohol, tobacco addiction; overeating and lack of exercise; not working or studying hard enough. Are you really trying to say anybody can overcome those by "doing and completing something because its important to you"?
Actually, if something is important enough to someone, they are always motivated to do it. Period. No tricks needed. Of course, it's not often in life that one finds things that are that important. Some people never find such things. And that is sad, and sadly common.
Clearly you have never had to deal with procrastination.
Note that I'm no scientist so I only have my personal belief to go by. Yes. If its important enough, I believe anyone can.
We all seek approval and validation from others; it's a fundamental part of the human experience. We all care about the part of ourselves that others see because it's only a part - a tiny fraction.
"The truth is you’ve already heard this. That this is what it’s like. That it’s what makes room for the universes inside you, all the endless in-bent fractals of connection and symphonies of different voices, the infinities you can never show another soul. And you think it makes you a fraud, the tiny fraction anyone else ever sees? Of course you’re a fraud, of course what people see is never you. And of course you know this, and of course you try to manage what part they see if you know it’s only a part. Who wouldn’t?"
-Good Old Neon, David Foster Wallace
Not only that but goals change, and I wouldn't want to end up in a position where I looked like I had failed when in fact I had moved on to other things.