(no subject)
The topic of motivation fascinates me, though I don't often get to talk about it. I think that with friends, it is a conversation that is tarnished by the possibility of #humblebrags. It is one of the last covert pissing contests.So nobody talks about it, except to decry when they themselves are not motivated. Jante's Law at its finest.
However, I am unable of discussing motivation with myself, honestly. The tools I've progressively acquired to combat procrastination have slowly betrayed me. Because they weren't fighting procrastination; they were fighting me. Selective procrastination (appealing to one's ToDo list in its entirety, as opposed to the specific task one needs to do) always sounded so appealing to me... and yet it it a strategy that fails me when I need to take care of something right now. It is not identical to regular procrastination, wherein I invent reasons or find means of not doing the Thing, but rather worse. Because these other activities are given a positive weight. Cleaning up my book collection stops seeming like a cop-out when it is accorded an extrinsic value. It then becomes something that needs to be done; therefore, high-five.
I think this mode of thinking has helped make me extremely well-rounded, as it has given me a reason to indulge in my many interests. I think it has also crippled my ability to focus on a specific project. Tangentially, I wonder if this isn't similar to one of the arguments for marriage. You are explicitly defining a difference in value between Being Married and Not Being Married, reinforcing commitment. Becoming a bachelor anew is no longer a lateral step; it is, according to the institutions in which you've invested yourself, a very obvious and very pronounced step down.