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The arguments in this article are indeed poor, but just because someone uses poor arguments to support X doesn't imply that X is wrong. I found the main point r
by bluekeybox 15y ago
The arguments in this article are indeed poor, but just because someone uses poor arguments to support X doesn't imply that X is wrong. I found the main point raised in the article to be very interesting because it supports a view that I arrived to independently, by thinking about why I myself was procrastinating in college (I was a pre-med student and of course I had a heavy course load -- but I never deep down wanted to be a doctor -- my real love was math, technology, computers, and believe it or not philosophy).
a) The entire consciousness/unconscious separation is somewhat bogus (our "unconscious" is simply the part of our brain that evades introspection, but degree of introspection is hard to measure for obvious reasons). The main point to gather is that there is a process of self-criticism that manifests itself as lack of motivation, at least as stated by the article.
b) Our lives are always at risk -- being outcompeted by others of our kind is equivalent to being trampled upon by a mammoth.
c) I don't see how lack of motivation to do X is a less efficient alternative to fear. Fear is rarely an efficient mechanism (except in very time-constrained situations) -- it forces us to focus all our energy on a single task, it prevents us from thinking broadly and seeing new opportunities, and finally it forces us to make decisions towards increase of security instead of increase of opportunity. And the "loss of interest" you mention is technically the same as lack of motivation.
d) It makes perfect sense that we are conflicted about complex decisions for a long time. If we made up our minds quickly instead, it would prevent us from gathering enough information to make the aforementioned complex decision correctly. Complex decisions are complex for a reason.
- TeMPOraL 15y agob) Unless it's subconscious, I disagree. I procrastinated my way through the high school and at this age I had zero fear for my life or competition with anybody. Things do change when one gets older, but at that point I didn't cared about being outcompeted by others (actually, right now, I don't really care that much either). c) Sometimes forcing us to focus on a single task is beneficial. Multitasking is usually bad for productivity, at least from what I've seen so far both in my life and on discussions at HN.
- extension 15y agob) Consider that perhaps the part of your mind that makes you procrastinate uses a vestigial model of success: just stay alive. Its strategy is very simple. If you're in mortal danger, do something. If you're not in mortal danger, do nothing. From its perspective, any kind of change in your daily routine risks a trampling.
- bluekeybox 15y agob) Yes, i meant that there likely is an effect different from fear of loss of life, but an effect nonetheless. You can call it subconscious. c) Unless you are very intelligent with enough life experience (not plenty -- just enough), and have a carefully thought-out plan, wholly focusing on a single task is rarely beneficial (and could have been detrimental in the prehistoric times to other important tasks such looking out for predators/danger and finding mates). If you have a great idea for a startup -- go focus on it -- but just to put it in a perspective, great ideas/plans are so rare and hard to come by (as demonstrated by 95% of the population not being entrepreneurs) that 95% of the time your brain is probably justified in critiquing your commitment to anything. At this stage in my life (I'm 28) I feel secure and confident in myself to wholly immerse myself into the tech business, but before that I went through a long period of low motivation which was most likely due to not feeling confident enough about any particular career decision.