A lot of my akrasia is solved by just “monkey see, monkey do.” Physically put what I should be doing in front of my eyeballs, and pretty quickly I’ll do it. Similarly, any visible distractions, or portals to distraction, will also suck me in.
But there also seems to be a component that’s more like burnout. “Monkey see, monkey don’t WANNA.”
On one level, the cure is to just do something else and let some time pass. But that’s not explicit enough for my taste. For one thing, something is happening that recovers my motivation. For another, “letting time pass” is an activity with other effects, which might be energy-recovering but distracting or demotivating in other ways. Letting time pass involves forgetting, value drift, passing up opportunities, and spending one form of slack (time) to gain another (energy). It’s costly, not just something I forget to do. So I’d like to understand my energy budget on a more fine-grained level.
Act as if tiredness and demotivation does not exist. Gratitude journaling can transform my attitude all at once, even though nothing changed in my life. Maybe “tiredness and demotivation” is a story I tell myself, not a real state that says “stop working.”
One clue is that there must be a difference between “tiredness and demotivation” as an folk theory and as a measurable phenomenon. Clearly, if I stay up for 24 hours straight, I’m going to perform worse on a math test at the end of that time that I would have at the beginning. That’s measurable. But if I explain my behaviors right in this moment as “because I’m tired,” that’s my folk theory explanation.
An approach I could take is to be skeptical of the folk theory of tiredness. Admit that fatigue will affect my performance, but open myself to possibilities like:
I have more capacity for sustained work than I think. Just do it.
A lot of “fatigue” is caused by self-reinforcing cycles of complaining that I’m tired/demotivated.
Extremely regular habits, far beyond what I’ve ever practiced, would allow me to calibrate myself quite carefully for an optimal sense of wellbeing.
Going with the flow, accepting all the ups and downs, and giving little to no thought about my energetic state—just allowing myself to be driven by reaction and response—is actually the best way to go.
Just swallow the 2020 wellness doctrine hook, line, and sinker. Get 8 hours of sleep. Get daily exercise. Eat a varied diet. Less caffeine, less screens, more conversation, brief breaks throughout the day, sunshine, etc. Prioritize wellness above work. If I get to the end of the day and I haven’t achieved all my “wellness goals,” that’s a more serious problem than if I haven’t completed all my work deadlines.
A lot of my akrasia is solved by just “monkey see, monkey do.” Physically put what I should be doing in front of my eyeballs, and pretty quickly I’ll do it. Similarly, any visible distractions, or portals to distraction, will also suck me in.
But there also seems to be a component that’s more like burnout. “Monkey see, monkey don’t WANNA.”
On one level, the cure is to just do something else and let some time pass. But that’s not explicit enough for my taste. For one thing, something is happening that recovers my motivation. For another, “letting time pass” is an activity with other effects, which might be energy-recovering but distracting or demotivating in other ways. Letting time pass involves forgetting, value drift, passing up opportunities, and spending one form of slack (time) to gain another (energy). It’s costly, not just something I forget to do. So I’d like to understand my energy budget on a more fine-grained level.
Act as if tiredness and demotivation does not exist. Gratitude journaling can transform my attitude all at once, even though nothing changed in my life. Maybe “tiredness and demotivation” is a story I tell myself, not a real state that says “stop working.”
One clue is that there must be a difference between “tiredness and demotivation” as an folk theory and as a measurable phenomenon. Clearly, if I stay up for 24 hours straight, I’m going to perform worse on a math test at the end of that time that I would have at the beginning. That’s measurable. But if I explain my behaviors right in this moment as “because I’m tired,” that’s my folk theory explanation.
An approach I could take is to be skeptical of the folk theory of tiredness. Admit that fatigue will affect my performance, but open myself to possibilities like:
I have more capacity for sustained work than I think. Just do it.
A lot of “fatigue” is caused by self-reinforcing cycles of complaining that I’m tired/demotivated.
Extremely regular habits, far beyond what I’ve ever practiced, would allow me to calibrate myself quite carefully for an optimal sense of wellbeing.
Going with the flow, accepting all the ups and downs, and giving little to no thought about my energetic state—just allowing myself to be driven by reaction and response—is actually the best way to go.
Just swallow the 2020 wellness doctrine hook, line, and sinker. Get 8 hours of sleep. Get daily exercise. Eat a varied diet. Less caffeine, less screens, more conversation, brief breaks throughout the day, sunshine, etc. Prioritize wellness above work. If I get to the end of the day and I haven’t achieved all my “wellness goals,” that’s a more serious problem than if I haven’t completed all my work deadlines.