I tend to be much more motivated and disciplined than most people, and seldom have problems with “akrasia,” especially in the past several months (quotation marks for not separating reality at its joints). I also tend to have unusual reference points, and I sometimes consciously work to change them. These unusual reference points seem to correlate with my best experiences of real motivation, and I think this technique has been very helpful for me. A few examples:
I associate exercise with its result of being more in shape and tasks becoming easier, taking less effort to lift things, being able to run further without being winded, etc.
Back when I was studying Japanese intensively, I associated it with in image of having mastery over the language and all its characters, and strolling about some neon-lit Japanese street with some wonderful Japanese woman.
Since childhood, my reference point for food has been unusually health oriented, and eating healthy is not difficult for me. I similarly found it relatively painless to become vegan, gaining a reference point of an absence of terribly treated animals, and feelings of enlightened benevolence.
Difficult but still worthwhile tasks are associated with ultimately gaining impressive abilities that most people don’t have because they haven’t put in the requisite efforts.
Interesting. Most of your examples fit a hypothesis I have, but there’s not enough information for me to confirm or deny it for this one:
I associate exercise with its result of being more in shape and tasks becoming easier, taking less effort to lift things, being able to run further without being winded, etc.
What I’m wondering is, what specifically do you find pleasant about those results? (There is an emotion cluster that’s alluded to in all three of your other examples, so I’m curious if it applies to the fourth as well.)
I have something of a supergoal to become increasingly competent and capable, very much enjoying those things for their own sake (along with some instrumental benefits). I also have some terminal desire to be “cool”, which is very related but distinct. The appearance benefits mostly just serve that goal.
Was there an emotion cluster besides this one you were picking out? It sounds potentially enlightening to hear it.
Was there an emotion cluster besides this one you were picking out?
Nope, that’s the one. I’d been hypothesizing recently that such aspirations would be the positive emotions most likely to lead to sustained and disciplined actions.
[I group emotions (and the evolutionary terminal values driving them) into four major categories: Significance, Affiliation, Safety, and Stimulation—SASS for short. The desires to be cool, impressive, admirable, and/or proud of one’s accomplishments all fall under “Significance”. While each group can motivate both positively and negatively in principle, each seems to impart different behavioral biases in practice. Significance and Affiliation seem to be the only ones that can motivate long-term disciplined behavior, and Affiliation seems to need to be other-directed in order to be useful.]
Interesting. That analysis makes a lot of sense to me, and I largely agree with it, including the idea that Affiliation and Significance are the most useful for long-term disciplined behavior. However as I was thinking back on this the other day, I realized that my second example:
Back when I was studying Japanese intensively, I associated it with in image of having mastery over the language and all its characters, and strolling about some neon-lit Japanese street with some wonderful Japanese woman.
was a drive for stimulation. None of my friends or family would have been particularly impressed (or unhappy) with such an accomplishment, and I myself didn’t consider it that amazing. Many people on Earth know 2 or more languages fluently, and while the people around me in Japan would find me a novelty or somewhat impressive (partly because of the cultural subconscious idea that Japanese is impossible to learn), I would basically just be “able to speak the language”; proficient but not exceptional. I also wasn’t thinking of doing anything really advanced like becoming an author in the language, just in getting by with it and understanding the language around me. My drive in this case came largely from this feeling of Japan as a sort of magical place, based partly on experiences I’d had during an earlier visit of 2-3 weeks. That really was a magical (and occasionally frustrating) trip.
I think this is just an unusual exception to the generally good analysis you put forward, but for accuracy I wanted to point it out.
I tend to be much more motivated and disciplined than most people, and seldom have problems with “akrasia,” especially in the past several months (quotation marks for not separating reality at its joints). I also tend to have unusual reference points, and I sometimes consciously work to change them. These unusual reference points seem to correlate with my best experiences of real motivation, and I think this technique has been very helpful for me. A few examples:
I associate exercise with its result of being more in shape and tasks becoming easier, taking less effort to lift things, being able to run further without being winded, etc.
Back when I was studying Japanese intensively, I associated it with in image of having mastery over the language and all its characters, and strolling about some neon-lit Japanese street with some wonderful Japanese woman.
Since childhood, my reference point for food has been unusually health oriented, and eating healthy is not difficult for me. I similarly found it relatively painless to become vegan, gaining a reference point of an absence of terribly treated animals, and feelings of enlightened benevolence.
Difficult but still worthwhile tasks are associated with ultimately gaining impressive abilities that most people don’t have because they haven’t put in the requisite efforts.
Interesting. Most of your examples fit a hypothesis I have, but there’s not enough information for me to confirm or deny it for this one:
What I’m wondering is, what specifically do you find pleasant about those results? (There is an emotion cluster that’s alluded to in all three of your other examples, so I’m curious if it applies to the fourth as well.)
I have something of a supergoal to become increasingly competent and capable, very much enjoying those things for their own sake (along with some instrumental benefits). I also have some terminal desire to be “cool”, which is very related but distinct. The appearance benefits mostly just serve that goal.
Was there an emotion cluster besides this one you were picking out? It sounds potentially enlightening to hear it.
Nope, that’s the one. I’d been hypothesizing recently that such aspirations would be the positive emotions most likely to lead to sustained and disciplined actions.
[I group emotions (and the evolutionary terminal values driving them) into four major categories: Significance, Affiliation, Safety, and Stimulation—SASS for short. The desires to be cool, impressive, admirable, and/or proud of one’s accomplishments all fall under “Significance”. While each group can motivate both positively and negatively in principle, each seems to impart different behavioral biases in practice. Significance and Affiliation seem to be the only ones that can motivate long-term disciplined behavior, and Affiliation seems to need to be other-directed in order to be useful.]
Interesting. That analysis makes a lot of sense to me, and I largely agree with it, including the idea that Affiliation and Significance are the most useful for long-term disciplined behavior. However as I was thinking back on this the other day, I realized that my second example:
was a drive for stimulation. None of my friends or family would have been particularly impressed (or unhappy) with such an accomplishment, and I myself didn’t consider it that amazing. Many people on Earth know 2 or more languages fluently, and while the people around me in Japan would find me a novelty or somewhat impressive (partly because of the cultural subconscious idea that Japanese is impossible to learn), I would basically just be “able to speak the language”; proficient but not exceptional. I also wasn’t thinking of doing anything really advanced like becoming an author in the language, just in getting by with it and understanding the language around me. My drive in this case came largely from this feeling of Japan as a sort of magical place, based partly on experiences I’d had during an earlier visit of 2-3 weeks. That really was a magical (and occasionally frustrating) trip.
I think this is just an unusual exception to the generally good analysis you put forward, but for accuracy I wanted to point it out.
Thanks!