It might be more useful for you to look at how you successfully achieve certain goals, so you can find out what you’re doing differently in those contexts.
And that’s exactly what we’re doing here. We’re not helpless, just helpless to change certain things in certain ways.
Of course not. I do things all the time without the reward existing outside myself. I eat because I’m hungry, and to my mind, although I can imagine all kinds of things that benefit from my not being hungry, I think it’s safe to say that I eat primarily because I don’t want to be hungry (I assume the brain’s goal system is this shallow when it comes to hunger, though it may be deeper and I just don’t know it).
And that’s exactly what we’re doing here. We’re not helpless, just helpless to change certain things in certain ways.
So, you’ve never achieved anything in your life without some kind of external carrot or stick, then? Is that what you’re saying?
Of course not. I do things all the time without the reward existing outside myself. I eat because I’m hungry, and to my mind, although I can imagine all kinds of things that benefit from my not being hungry, I think it’s safe to say that I eat primarily because I don’t want to be hungry (I assume the brain’s goal system is this shallow when it comes to hunger, though it may be deeper and I just don’t know it).