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Flip it around: Akrasia is the state of having flawed judgment about one's values. Of course the part of the brain that can speak always speaks highly of itself

Flip it around: Akrasia is the state of having flawed judgment about one's values. Of course the part of the brain that can speak always speaks highly of itself to the detriment of all the other bits of brain. The important thing is to convince all of yourself that something is worth doing. Telling yourself that you should do something is as persuasive as someone else chiding you to do it. Yes, the verbal, "planning" part of your brain has convinced itself, but it is also self-absorbed and treats the rest of the brain like its footstool. For an example, "I should lose weight" is a ridiculously abstract concept to most of your brain. Your talky bit thinks it's saying something concrete: "Get that number on the scale down", but it hasn't actually said enough. It's a half-baked aspiration, not an activity. "I should exercise" is better: It prescribes an abstract activity that would accomplish the goal. It's still terrible though because it's still abstract. What is the value of exercise in the abstract? You don't experience exercise in the abstract: how could you possibly judge whether it is rewarding or not? How can you decide to "exercise" when exercise isn't even a real thing? "I should run" is even better: You know how running feels. You can feel good running, and you can feel bad running. There are actual experiences and knowledge to draw upon to determine the value of running. Still: Not enough. Should you be running all the time? Verbal brain is being awfully sloppy, and has the gall to blame the rest of the brain for its mistakes. "I should run tomorrow in the morning for 30 minutes when I wake up." And we have arrived at remedy #3 which is called implementation intention. Honestly, what other intentions are actually intentions? If you're not planning concrete actions but abstract classes of actions, you're daydreaming, not planning. Verbal brain likes to talk about how important obligations and commitments are, but avoids doing the work of translating its precious thoughts into something intelligible to the rest of the brain. The verbal part of your brain is easily convinced: By its own words. It doesn't even know what it has convinced itself of but it is awfully satisfied with itself. You, the ensemble of brain bits, are obviously skeptical of such a gullible entity. When you experience satisfaction or gratification for doing something, that is real knowledge to your brain; you learn what is good and what is bad. Of course you're going to prefer real knowledge over the ravings of an imbecile about the great rewards of not-even-a-real-thing.

copperx 11y ago
I agree, and I have an anecdote to share. A few years back I wanted to lose weight and get fit. I tried many things, but I inevitably fell back into old patterns. Then I read a book by a bodybuilder in which basically 1/3 of it was a pep talk -- it was so persuasive that by the end of reading it I knew, and not just hoped, that I would get fit. I lost 35 lbs and got in the best shape of my life through the constant work of 1.5 years-- I became so dedicated to this pursuit that I would constantly refuse short - term benefits to achieve my long term ones -- something that I a lot of trouble with. In other words, it was easy once I convinced myself of what my values were.
- tizzdogg 11y ago
  What was the book?
  - leoc 11y ago
    It wasn't Arnold's one, was it? "The kind of people who train alongside you in a gym makes a difference. If you are surrounded by people who are serious and train with a lot of intensity, it's easier for you to do the same thing. But it can be pretty hard to really blast your muscles while the people around you are just going through the motions. That is why good bodybuilders tend to congregate in certain gyms. By having the example of other serious bodybuilders constantly in front of you, you will train that much harder. That is what made Joe Gold's original gym in Venice, California such a great place—a small gym with just enough equipment, but where you would constantly be rubbing shoulders with the great bodybuilders against whom I had the privilege of competing-like Franco Columbu, Ed Corney, Dave Draper, Robby Robinson, Frank Zane, Sergio Oliva, and Ken Waller. Nowadays, it's rare to find that many champions in the same place, but if you aren't sharing the gym floor with great bodybuilders like Flex Wheeler, Shawn Ray, Nasser El Sonbaty, or Dorian Yates, it can be very motivating if there are pictures or posters of these individuals on the walls or championship trophies displayed. In 1980, training at World Gym for my final Mr. Olympia competition, I showed up at the gym at seven o'clock one morning to work out and stepped out on the sundeck for a moment. Suddenly the sun came through the clouds. It was so beautiful I lost all my motivation to train. I thought maybe I would go to the beach instead. I came up with every excuse in the book-the most persuasive being that I had trained hard the day before with the powerful German bodybuilder Jusup Wilkosz, so I could lay back today—but then I heard weights being clanged together inside the gym and I saw Wilkosz working his abs, Ken Waller doing shoulders, veins standing out all over his upper body, Franco Columbu blasting away, benching more than 400 pounts, Samir Bannout punishing his biceps with heavy Curls. Everywhere I looked there was some kind of hard, sweaty training going on, and I knew that I couldn't afford not to train if I was going to compete against these champions. Their example sucked me in, and now I was looking forward to working, anticipating the pleasure of pitting my muscles against heavy iron. By the end of that session I had the best pump I could imagine, and an almost wasted morning had turned into one of the best workouts of my life. If I hadn't been there at World Gym, with those other bodybuilders to inspire and motivate me, I doubt that day would have ended up being so productive. Even today, when I'm training for other reason, such as getting into top shape for a movie role, or just trying to stay in shape, I absorb energy from people working out around me. That's why I still like to go to gyms where bodybuilders are training for competition. Even today, after all this time, it still inspires me." p. 87 in the 1999 edition of /The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding/, by Schwarzenegger and Bill Dobbins. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0684857219/ http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0684857219/ Great book, and actually quite pgesque, because to a large extent it's an indirect discussion of how the world works and what it's like to effectively pursue excellence.

copperx 11y ago

I agree, and I have an anecdote to share. A few years back I wanted to lose weight and get fit. I tried many things, but I inevitably fell back into old patterns. Then I read a book by a bodybuilder in which basically 1/3 of it was a pep talk -- it was so persuasive that by the end of reading it I knew, and not just hoped, that I would get fit. I lost 35 lbs and got in the best shape of my life through the constant work of 1.5 years-- I became so dedicated to this pursuit that I would constantly refuse short - term benefits to achieve my long term ones -- something that I a lot of trouble with. In other words, it was easy once I convinced myself of what my values were.

tizzdogg 11y ago
What was the book?
- leoc 11y ago
  It wasn't Arnold's one, was it? "The kind of people who train alongside you in a gym makes a difference. If you are surrounded by people who are serious and train with a lot of intensity, it's easier for you to do the same thing. But it can be pretty hard to really blast your muscles while the people around you are just going through the motions. That is why good bodybuilders tend to congregate in certain gyms. By having the example of other serious bodybuilders constantly in front of you, you will train that much harder. That is what made Joe Gold's original gym in Venice, California such a great place—a small gym with just enough equipment, but where you would constantly be rubbing shoulders with the great bodybuilders against whom I had the privilege of competing-like Franco Columbu, Ed Corney, Dave Draper, Robby Robinson, Frank Zane, Sergio Oliva, and Ken Waller. Nowadays, it's rare to find that many champions in the same place, but if you aren't sharing the gym floor with great bodybuilders like Flex Wheeler, Shawn Ray, Nasser El Sonbaty, or Dorian Yates, it can be very motivating if there are pictures or posters of these individuals on the walls or championship trophies displayed. In 1980, training at World Gym for my final Mr. Olympia competition, I showed up at the gym at seven o'clock one morning to work out and stepped out on the sundeck for a moment. Suddenly the sun came through the clouds. It was so beautiful I lost all my motivation to train. I thought maybe I would go to the beach instead. I came up with every excuse in the book-the most persuasive being that I had trained hard the day before with the powerful German bodybuilder Jusup Wilkosz, so I could lay back today—but then I heard weights being clanged together inside the gym and I saw Wilkosz working his abs, Ken Waller doing shoulders, veins standing out all over his upper body, Franco Columbu blasting away, benching more than 400 pounts, Samir Bannout punishing his biceps with heavy Curls. Everywhere I looked there was some kind of hard, sweaty training going on, and I knew that I couldn't afford not to train if I was going to compete against these champions. Their example sucked me in, and now I was looking forward to working, anticipating the pleasure of pitting my muscles against heavy iron. By the end of that session I had the best pump I could imagine, and an almost wasted morning had turned into one of the best workouts of my life. If I hadn't been there at World Gym, with those other bodybuilders to inspire and motivate me, I doubt that day would have ended up being so productive. Even today, when I'm training for other reason, such as getting into top shape for a movie role, or just trying to stay in shape, I absorb energy from people working out around me. That's why I still like to go to gyms where bodybuilders are training for competition. Even today, after all this time, it still inspires me." p. 87 in the 1999 edition of /The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding/, by Schwarzenegger and Bill Dobbins. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0684857219/ http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0684857219/ Great book, and actually quite pgesque, because to a large extent it's an indirect discussion of how the world works and what it's like to effectively pursue excellence.