4 ms·

In my opinion you do not need discipline and forcing yourself to do anything. Introspection and retrospection is enough. You want to watch something or play som

by comboy 4y ago

In my opinion you do not need discipline and forcing yourself to do anything. Introspection and retrospection is enough. You want to watch something or play something? Go for it. What is the reason not to if you want to? When you watch yourself then you notice that you seem miserable just doing A but you felt great doing B. That's enough. Now it's part of the function. Trying to force yourself to do something is like trying to lift yourself up by your trousers. Ultimately it's you that eventually decide that you want to do it now, the rest is some unnecessarily complex story. You want to do things you want in life. Forcing yourself to do anything is just a story. If you eliminate wishful thinking, then wanting some goal in the future is the same as wanting taking to take some action now that you know is necessary. Any time I catch myself thinking that I'm doing or about to do something that I think I don't want to do, I do a bit of debugging and untangle the story in my head. Probably not explained clear enough. But basically eliminating wishful thinking and realizing that >> I only do things I want << did wonders to me. Habits are still powerful given the above, but observing them I don't have habits which I don't want to have - I usually rather fix the story than behavior, so there's also that. "keeping eye on the prize" and such - there is no cake (and I think that's great)

slothtrop 4y ago
> Trying to force yourself to do something is like trying to lift yourself up by your trousers. Everyone who's had to practice 1000s of hours has had to have discipline.
- comboy 4y ago
  Who says you have to practice? In the context of coding I just craved it, never needed any discipline. With music most seem to learn like the author just wanting to create something and learning along the way rather than "now it's time for my 2 hours of ableton practice" With instruments I think the situation is pathological. We teach everybody to learn the exact same things, scales, patterns and chords in the exact same way, and then ask them to be original. But you can just take an instrument and start making random sounds, better and better over time because there's tight feedback loop linked with your music perception. And sure, you won't be able to play what others have played - but you will be able to express yourself in an unique way. I think most of those who did spend 1000s of hours on specific thing, did not require any discipline to do these things. They just wanted to do them. Even if they sucked at it.
  - slothtrop 4y ago
    > I think most of those who did spend 1000s of hours on specific thing, did not require any discipline to do these things. I think this is a complete, utter fantasy.
    - comboy 4y ago
      This is a real life :) I get your point and I know some people who work your way who went very far. But if you don't want examples from my circle just read some biographies. People who spend 1000s of hours on something are passionate about it, they really want it. I don't think you can discipline yourself to spend 12h daily on something without going insane. But if you really want it, it's effortless, it's what you want to do. I'm taking time to respond because what you say is what I've been thought, and I think it's just unnecessary mental gymnastics that may cause suffering. If it does not and it makes one happy, then whatever story works seems fine. But having two different narrations that end up with the same actions, I'd choose one which is less painful. You are choosing to discipline yourself to be doing something. So you want to be doing this thing. If you allow yourself to truly question your whole life, then either you decide you don't really want to be doing this, or you understand that you do. If you bring out the contradiction to the surface, it just resolves itself. Because this is a logical contradiction in your mind - I don't want to do this but I want to do this. If you want B and it requires A then if you eliminate thinking about them separately and treat them as one thing - B comes with A, then either you want it or not. It sounds awfully like preaching, and I'm sorry about that. But since you took time to read it maybe you'll at least have some fun entertaining the idea in your head while really not wanting to do something. The concept brought me a lot of joy and made my life easier so I naturally feel like sharing it.
      - slothtrop 4y ago
        > People who spend 1000s of hours on something are passionate about it, they really want it. This does not preclude discipline. Here again, this is long-term. The motivation isn't necessarily there at every waking moment. A runner or bodybuilder for instance won't just take a day off because they're tired and don't feel like exercising. The "I want" assertion can be a matter of moment-to-moment whim, not careful soul-searching. > I think it's just unnecessary mental gymnastics that may cause suffering. I'm currently suffering from your mental gymnastics.

by comboy 4y ago

slothtrop 4y ago

> Trying to force yourself to do something is like trying to lift yourself up by your trousers. Everyone who's had to practice 1000s of hours has had to have discipline.

comboy 4y ago
Who says you have to practice? In the context of coding I just craved it, never needed any discipline. With music most seem to learn like the author just wanting to create something and learning along the way rather than "now it's time for my 2 hours of ableton practice" With instruments I think the situation is pathological. We teach everybody to learn the exact same things, scales, patterns and chords in the exact same way, and then ask them to be original. But you can just take an instrument and start making random sounds, better and better over time because there's tight feedback loop linked with your music perception. And sure, you won't be able to play what others have played - but you will be able to express yourself in an unique way. I think most of those who did spend 1000s of hours on specific thing, did not require any discipline to do these things. They just wanted to do them. Even if they sucked at it.
- slothtrop 4y ago
  > I think most of those who did spend 1000s of hours on specific thing, did not require any discipline to do these things. I think this is a complete, utter fantasy.
  - comboy 4y ago
    This is a real life :) I get your point and I know some people who work your way who went very far. But if you don't want examples from my circle just read some biographies. People who spend 1000s of hours on something are passionate about it, they really want it. I don't think you can discipline yourself to spend 12h daily on something without going insane. But if you really want it, it's effortless, it's what you want to do. I'm taking time to respond because what you say is what I've been thought, and I think it's just unnecessary mental gymnastics that may cause suffering. If it does not and it makes one happy, then whatever story works seems fine. But having two different narrations that end up with the same actions, I'd choose one which is less painful. You are choosing to discipline yourself to be doing something. So you want to be doing this thing. If you allow yourself to truly question your whole life, then either you decide you don't really want to be doing this, or you understand that you do. If you bring out the contradiction to the surface, it just resolves itself. Because this is a logical contradiction in your mind - I don't want to do this but I want to do this. If you want B and it requires A then if you eliminate thinking about them separately and treat them as one thing - B comes with A, then either you want it or not. It sounds awfully like preaching, and I'm sorry about that. But since you took time to read it maybe you'll at least have some fun entertaining the idea in your head while really not wanting to do something. The concept brought me a lot of joy and made my life easier so I naturally feel like sharing it.
    - slothtrop 4y ago
      > People who spend 1000s of hours on something are passionate about it, they really want it. This does not preclude discipline. Here again, this is long-term. The motivation isn't necessarily there at every waking moment. A runner or bodybuilder for instance won't just take a day off because they're tired and don't feel like exercising. The "I want" assertion can be a matter of moment-to-moment whim, not careful soul-searching. > I think it's just unnecessary mental gymnastics that may cause suffering. I'm currently suffering from your mental gymnastics.