Interesting articles on chasing vs search reading.
I have to say that I prefer search-reading.
Sure—I see the benefits of chase-reading if you happen to want to know about a particular question. But most of my curiosity is about broad subject areas.
I’m following my curiosity into physics right now.
I don’t have a goal “I want to learn physics”—because I don’t want to “be a physicist” just as I don’t want to “be” a chemist, biologist, psychologist or mathematician—though I’ve learned a bit (or a lot) about all those subjects. I’m learning because I enjoy knowing stuff about how the world works.
That’s about as precise as my goal gets. If I try for anything more specific, the sense of fun often disappears—then it becomes “work”, and that’s not the point. Various commenters have suggested that one needs a goal to really push ourself—but I have found that not to be the case.
In the past I’ve tried to convince myself that I “need a goal” to motivate myself… mainly because other people seem to think they’re so important “what, you don’t have a goal, but then you might just drift!”
Well, in my drifting I’ve learned a lot more about physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, mathematics than most other people I know… does that means I’ve failed?
I don’t think so.
I totally understand that there’s drifting and “drifting”… that drifting without actually doing anything can certainly mean you’re not pushing yourself to “be your best”.
of course we should be careful not to be judgmental about the choices of others to follow different life-preference—who’s to say a life of pleasure is less worthy than a goal-oriented business-person building a personal empire… or a person that just enjoys learning for its own sake?
What my experience has repeatedly taught me… is that if I personally try to force myself to have a specific goal—I actually lose motivation. Life-goals must be intrinsic for them to be of any use. I push myself far more, get more done if I allow myself to follow my curiosity rather than try to impose unnecessary requirements on it.
Of course, there are easy traps to fall into…
A lot of the time it’s easy to make an excuse that any particular sub-goal is not worth pushing-through because it’s not fun… but maybe it’s necessary to get you to the next step of your real goal… I make sure I do actually push myself, and not just do easy stuff simply because its easy.
but I tend to find that if I truly follow my curiosity, I will dig into the tougher stuff naturally—and be motivated to do it far more than if I told myself “right, I’m learning quantum electrodynamics, and I must have it done by next month”.
For me—I’m far more successful if I just ask myself “hmmm, I wonder what this Fenyman guy’s got to say about how the world works?”
In the past I’ve tried to convince myself that I “need a goal” to motivate myself… mainly because other people seem to think they’re so important “what, you don’t have a goal, but then you might just drift!”
This gives a hint about what purpose these goals usually have. They are kind of like ‘election promises’. ;)
Yeah, I can see that. Kind of like boasting to make sure that if you give up—you’ll have embarrassed yourself by making a liar out of yourself.
I’ve done that myself, and sometimes it works.. I’ve finished NaNoWriMo three times through that technique (amongst others) :)
I can understand it as a mind-hack… but it’s one that doesn’t work as well, for me, as others do. I also only tend to use it when the goal is something short-term. If something’s really a long-term interest for me, I don’t need to convince myself to work on it through social pressure.
...and election promises don’t always work either… then you end up with “non core promises” and post-hoc rationalisation over why you didn’t manage to get this one done this time… and I tend to think that is often more poisonous in the long run. At least for me.
Once you allow yourself to fail after promising yourself convincingly that you’d definitely do X… it makes it easier to flake out in future.
If I go for goal-based motivation strategies, I much prefer the “visualise yourself having achieved something you want” techniques instead. Still a goal-based technique, but I think more effective than making election promises, because it’s a way of hooking into your positive motivators—carrot instead of stick. and the fallout from failing, or even just falling-behind schedule—aren’t as catastrophic. Fall behind on a stick-based motivation and you get the stick… and then what? The motivator’s already spent. Fall behind on a carrot-based motivator, and the carrot is still there for you.
Of course, maybe the election promise does hook into the “visualise” method… though it’s generally used to try and motivate other people to do what you want...
Hmmm—probably diving too deeply into a detail :)
Anyway—yeah, I can totally understand how they work. I even use them myself—mainly for things that I don’t want to do but must (eg working for money) or for jump-starting me to get out of a rut… after which natural motivation takes over again.
I just find that natural motivation and interest is more powerful than any of the artificial ones I’ve ever used.
Interesting articles on chasing vs search reading.
I have to say that I prefer search-reading.
Sure—I see the benefits of chase-reading if you happen to want to know about a particular question. But most of my curiosity is about broad subject areas.
I’m following my curiosity into physics right now. I don’t have a goal “I want to learn physics”—because I don’t want to “be a physicist” just as I don’t want to “be” a chemist, biologist, psychologist or mathematician—though I’ve learned a bit (or a lot) about all those subjects. I’m learning because I enjoy knowing stuff about how the world works.
That’s about as precise as my goal gets. If I try for anything more specific, the sense of fun often disappears—then it becomes “work”, and that’s not the point. Various commenters have suggested that one needs a goal to really push ourself—but I have found that not to be the case.
In the past I’ve tried to convince myself that I “need a goal” to motivate myself… mainly because other people seem to think they’re so important “what, you don’t have a goal, but then you might just drift!”
Well, in my drifting I’ve learned a lot more about physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, mathematics than most other people I know… does that means I’ve failed?
I don’t think so.
I totally understand that there’s drifting and “drifting”… that drifting without actually doing anything can certainly mean you’re not pushing yourself to “be your best”.
of course we should be careful not to be judgmental about the choices of others to follow different life-preference—who’s to say a life of pleasure is less worthy than a goal-oriented business-person building a personal empire… or a person that just enjoys learning for its own sake?What my experience has repeatedly taught me… is that if I personally try to force myself to have a specific goal—I actually lose motivation. Life-goals must be intrinsic for them to be of any use. I push myself far more, get more done if I allow myself to follow my curiosity rather than try to impose unnecessary requirements on it.
Of course, there are easy traps to fall into… A lot of the time it’s easy to make an excuse that any particular sub-goal is not worth pushing-through because it’s not fun… but maybe it’s necessary to get you to the next step of your real goal… I make sure I do actually push myself, and not just do easy stuff simply because its easy.
but I tend to find that if I truly follow my curiosity, I will dig into the tougher stuff naturally—and be motivated to do it far more than if I told myself “right, I’m learning quantum electrodynamics, and I must have it done by next month”.
For me—I’m far more successful if I just ask myself “hmmm, I wonder what this Fenyman guy’s got to say about how the world works?”
YMMV :)
This gives a hint about what purpose these goals usually have. They are kind of like ‘election promises’. ;)
Yeah, I can see that. Kind of like boasting to make sure that if you give up—you’ll have embarrassed yourself by making a liar out of yourself.
I’ve done that myself, and sometimes it works.. I’ve finished NaNoWriMo three times through that technique (amongst others) :)
I can understand it as a mind-hack… but it’s one that doesn’t work as well, for me, as others do. I also only tend to use it when the goal is something short-term. If something’s really a long-term interest for me, I don’t need to convince myself to work on it through social pressure.
...and election promises don’t always work either… then you end up with “non core promises” and post-hoc rationalisation over why you didn’t manage to get this one done this time… and I tend to think that is often more poisonous in the long run. At least for me.
Once you allow yourself to fail after promising yourself convincingly that you’d definitely do X… it makes it easier to flake out in future.
If I go for goal-based motivation strategies, I much prefer the “visualise yourself having achieved something you want” techniques instead. Still a goal-based technique, but I think more effective than making election promises, because it’s a way of hooking into your positive motivators—carrot instead of stick. and the fallout from failing, or even just falling-behind schedule—aren’t as catastrophic. Fall behind on a stick-based motivation and you get the stick… and then what? The motivator’s already spent. Fall behind on a carrot-based motivator, and the carrot is still there for you.
Of course, maybe the election promise does hook into the “visualise” method… though it’s generally used to try and motivate other people to do what you want...
Hmmm—probably diving too deeply into a detail :)
Anyway—yeah, I can totally understand how they work. I even use them myself—mainly for things that I don’t want to do but must (eg working for money) or for jump-starting me to get out of a rut… after which natural motivation takes over again. I just find that natural motivation and interest is more powerful than any of the artificial ones I’ve ever used.