Motivation
A man wakes up every morning and goes to work. He hates his job but yet every day he punches in. The pay isn't so good, but he collects the same old paycheck each week. He gets home at the end of every day and wonders why he still does it. He just wants to stop.
One day the man turns 65 and decides it's time to retire. He's had enough.
One year later he's found hanging from his rafters.
Why is this?
What is motivation? Specifically, what is our motivation? Why do we have that drive to accomplish things? Why do we seem to lose all purpose when we lose our motivation? Can we live without it? Can we even control it?
Philosophically this has been a primary subject of my thought for a while now. The more I look around, the more I'm looking for it. It seems to me to lie behind all that makes us what we are. So, accordingly, it would be good to have a well thought out conception of the subject.
The start point of my considerations is my own experience. Motivationally speaking I am (seemingly) a far cry from the person I once was even months ago. I focus on different areas of my life now. I go about things in a different way. And it seems to have a psychological effect on me.
Where to start...probably with a few years back, comparing the way I spent my time then with now. Namely, I played videogames as a purpose in itself then, not so much now (my prior posts show the shift). What was it that made a videogame worth playing? Some games are simply played because they are diversions (of course). But what about games like RPGs? They are largely repetitive (often seem to depend upon it), formulaic, and depend on the simply accumulation of "stuff". Why is it that people will play those? Perhaps for story, character development, etc. But what about games like (here it comes) World of Warcraft? What is the motivation to continue here? It's more social nature? Not entirely, I believe. I can think of at least one case against. Furthermore, that social aspect generally revolves around one central aspect: the acquisition of stuff. It seems that when you've hit 70 and you're still playing in the middle of nowhere, on your own, killing the same enemies over and over again, the only motivation is the gaining of stuff.
Now, first of all, what is the nature of the motivation here? Is it really simply getting a shiny new thing? When that thing is acquired, the immediate thing that will happen afterwards in the mind (I know this from experience) is that a new, better thing must be acquired. Is this all that motivation boils down to? Is motivation in the WoW sense qualitatively the same as motivation in any other sense?
Here I return to myself. Roughly four months ago I experienced a rapid change in the focus of my motivation. I read stuff (with an academic purpose) in the past largely as a "thing I had to do". The texts I listed as my reading list last summer were to me more of a necessity than anything else. This summer it seems to work differently. Certainly I don't get giddy when I'm reading Berkeley, though it's no fault of Berkeley. However, when I don't read I feel as though I'm falling behind. I know I'm not. I'm ahead of the average person, and I'll probably have to re-read most of the stuff I read now later on. However, I still get that feeling that I should be doing something else. It's not guilt either, though. It reminds me, more than anything else, of that feeling you get when you play a videogame with another person. If they play while you don't, they start to get better than you, and you feel that you're falling behind. It's similar to that. So, having said that, has reading in my sense become a different WoW? The objectives may be different, as well as the means, but is it my mind doing the exact same action?
My current experience seems to say not. I still do play videogames, for one. However, I can't play them the way I once did. All that collection/goal-oriented motivation seems to have dissipated. I can't play games like that anymore, since I get bored now, whereas in the past I could have gone on (and did) forever. So where is the difference? Is it merely ascetic, with words taking priority in my mind at the moment instead of images?
I can't say metaphysically speaking (I may try at a future point), though psychologically I think it may actually be self-caused, and this is where I find it gets interesting. I think that it may be the case that I philosophized myself out of videogames. Allow me to explain. As I said, the concept of motivation has been on my mind for a while. The above considerations about videogames are far from new to me. As a result, the goals of videogames became to me completely arbitrary, not merely in a "yes, I know I don't get armor in real life" sense, but in a sense of it actually lacking any value whatsoever. So I can't play videogames simply for the sake of accomplishing the goals the set, like I used to. This I've started thinking a lot about, because it makes me wonder how much control we can have over our own volitions. How much can I shape my desires? It used to be that missing game time would have an emotion effect of some sort. Now I get irritated when I have "nothing better to do." This, properly harnessed, could be a useful skill in many areas (not merely in dealing with games, of course). What was my reasoning process? Can I isolate and control it? A good question for the therapeutic professions.
The other thing that comes up here, a more personal one, is whether in this case I am any better off. I rejected the original draw to games due to its seeming to be arbitrary. So who says my new motivations are any better? What's a book on the grand scale of things? Can't I direct my motivation to something that will make me money? Then again, what's money? I arrive here, through the conduit of motivation, to the existential problem: what is life worth? If I'm driven purely by arbitrary motivation which is likely just a chemical occurrence in my brain, why should I follow my motivation?
We hit a problem here, the like of which I demonstrated out (fictionally, I should add) in the introduction. "The number one killer of old people is retirement," as they say. If my ideas on motivation are correct, I would bet I could point my finger at the major reason. Why do we work? So we can support ourselves to acquire all the stuff we need. What happens when we are done. We are done, we can just do whatever now. So, now what? We sit and become nothing in some cases it seems.
This is a double whammy of a problem. #1: Our purpose itself seems to die when we reach it: just like in WoW, we need something else; the motivation itself is what's valuable, not the goal itself (!). #2: If we lack that purpose, we become nothing. That seemingly arbitrary motivation may be all that causes us to get up in the morning. This here is what you call "existentially fucked".
How do we get out of this pit? I have no absolute answer, partly because I am by default suspicious of anything that is 'absolute'. Like Nietzsche, we could try saying "Yes!" to life, even if it is without meaning and we will die only to see the same again and again. Perhaps we must create our purpose with a figure such as God. Then again, heaven always seemed like a boring place to me (that statement, when reflected on, should prove more than incidental here).
I think, to be honest, my motivation is simply ignorance of the scale of everything. I can't see beyond my own limits, so I don't see the nothingness that seems to be beyond it. At least, I can't believe it. This is the danger of philosophy: finding an answer to life, the universe, and everything, only to find it sucks. It seems that we push on, by my formulation (admittedly rough), due to something that really isn't "necessary". Then again, what is (so asks the existential relativist)? I try to tell myself that I will create my own meaning in life. As a reflective being, I have that power. Hopefully that will hold. If not, well, we will see. And thus I stop for now to follow my own thoughts and motivations wherever they may lead.
One day the man turns 65 and decides it's time to retire. He's had enough.
One year later he's found hanging from his rafters.
Why is this?
What is motivation? Specifically, what is our motivation? Why do we have that drive to accomplish things? Why do we seem to lose all purpose when we lose our motivation? Can we live without it? Can we even control it?
Philosophically this has been a primary subject of my thought for a while now. The more I look around, the more I'm looking for it. It seems to me to lie behind all that makes us what we are. So, accordingly, it would be good to have a well thought out conception of the subject.
The start point of my considerations is my own experience. Motivationally speaking I am (seemingly) a far cry from the person I once was even months ago. I focus on different areas of my life now. I go about things in a different way. And it seems to have a psychological effect on me.
Where to start...probably with a few years back, comparing the way I spent my time then with now. Namely, I played videogames as a purpose in itself then, not so much now (my prior posts show the shift). What was it that made a videogame worth playing? Some games are simply played because they are diversions (of course). But what about games like RPGs? They are largely repetitive (often seem to depend upon it), formulaic, and depend on the simply accumulation of "stuff". Why is it that people will play those? Perhaps for story, character development, etc. But what about games like (here it comes) World of Warcraft? What is the motivation to continue here? It's more social nature? Not entirely, I believe. I can think of at least one case against. Furthermore, that social aspect generally revolves around one central aspect: the acquisition of stuff. It seems that when you've hit 70 and you're still playing in the middle of nowhere, on your own, killing the same enemies over and over again, the only motivation is the gaining of stuff.
Now, first of all, what is the nature of the motivation here? Is it really simply getting a shiny new thing? When that thing is acquired, the immediate thing that will happen afterwards in the mind (I know this from experience) is that a new, better thing must be acquired. Is this all that motivation boils down to? Is motivation in the WoW sense qualitatively the same as motivation in any other sense?
Here I return to myself. Roughly four months ago I experienced a rapid change in the focus of my motivation. I read stuff (with an academic purpose) in the past largely as a "thing I had to do". The texts I listed as my reading list last summer were to me more of a necessity than anything else. This summer it seems to work differently. Certainly I don't get giddy when I'm reading Berkeley, though it's no fault of Berkeley. However, when I don't read I feel as though I'm falling behind. I know I'm not. I'm ahead of the average person, and I'll probably have to re-read most of the stuff I read now later on. However, I still get that feeling that I should be doing something else. It's not guilt either, though. It reminds me, more than anything else, of that feeling you get when you play a videogame with another person. If they play while you don't, they start to get better than you, and you feel that you're falling behind. It's similar to that. So, having said that, has reading in my sense become a different WoW? The objectives may be different, as well as the means, but is it my mind doing the exact same action?
My current experience seems to say not. I still do play videogames, for one. However, I can't play them the way I once did. All that collection/goal-oriented motivation seems to have dissipated. I can't play games like that anymore, since I get bored now, whereas in the past I could have gone on (and did) forever. So where is the difference? Is it merely ascetic, with words taking priority in my mind at the moment instead of images?
I can't say metaphysically speaking (I may try at a future point), though psychologically I think it may actually be self-caused, and this is where I find it gets interesting. I think that it may be the case that I philosophized myself out of videogames. Allow me to explain. As I said, the concept of motivation has been on my mind for a while. The above considerations about videogames are far from new to me. As a result, the goals of videogames became to me completely arbitrary, not merely in a "yes, I know I don't get armor in real life" sense, but in a sense of it actually lacking any value whatsoever. So I can't play videogames simply for the sake of accomplishing the goals the set, like I used to. This I've started thinking a lot about, because it makes me wonder how much control we can have over our own volitions. How much can I shape my desires? It used to be that missing game time would have an emotion effect of some sort. Now I get irritated when I have "nothing better to do." This, properly harnessed, could be a useful skill in many areas (not merely in dealing with games, of course). What was my reasoning process? Can I isolate and control it? A good question for the therapeutic professions.
The other thing that comes up here, a more personal one, is whether in this case I am any better off. I rejected the original draw to games due to its seeming to be arbitrary. So who says my new motivations are any better? What's a book on the grand scale of things? Can't I direct my motivation to something that will make me money? Then again, what's money? I arrive here, through the conduit of motivation, to the existential problem: what is life worth? If I'm driven purely by arbitrary motivation which is likely just a chemical occurrence in my brain, why should I follow my motivation?
We hit a problem here, the like of which I demonstrated out (fictionally, I should add) in the introduction. "The number one killer of old people is retirement," as they say. If my ideas on motivation are correct, I would bet I could point my finger at the major reason. Why do we work? So we can support ourselves to acquire all the stuff we need. What happens when we are done. We are done, we can just do whatever now. So, now what? We sit and become nothing in some cases it seems.
This is a double whammy of a problem. #1: Our purpose itself seems to die when we reach it: just like in WoW, we need something else; the motivation itself is what's valuable, not the goal itself (!). #2: If we lack that purpose, we become nothing. That seemingly arbitrary motivation may be all that causes us to get up in the morning. This here is what you call "existentially fucked".
How do we get out of this pit? I have no absolute answer, partly because I am by default suspicious of anything that is 'absolute'. Like Nietzsche, we could try saying "Yes!" to life, even if it is without meaning and we will die only to see the same again and again. Perhaps we must create our purpose with a figure such as God. Then again, heaven always seemed like a boring place to me (that statement, when reflected on, should prove more than incidental here).
I think, to be honest, my motivation is simply ignorance of the scale of everything. I can't see beyond my own limits, so I don't see the nothingness that seems to be beyond it. At least, I can't believe it. This is the danger of philosophy: finding an answer to life, the universe, and everything, only to find it sucks. It seems that we push on, by my formulation (admittedly rough), due to something that really isn't "necessary". Then again, what is (so asks the existential relativist)? I try to tell myself that I will create my own meaning in life. As a reflective being, I have that power. Hopefully that will hold. If not, well, we will see. And thus I stop for now to follow my own thoughts and motivations wherever they may lead.
posted by Derek at 4:55 PM
3 Comments:
"purpose itself seems to die when we reach it: just like in WoW, we need something else; the motivation itself is what's valuable, not the goal itself "
Hence why I (and you) have waited in an arbitrary line for material objects that, mostly, upon getting have resulted in an amount of happiness nowhere near what one would expect after the anticipation that preceeded it. I do not wait in lines for the product; I wait in lines for the wait. For the suspense, the hype, the experience.
IMO, life itself is an experience. Life is not the goals you reach but the roads that you had to take in order to reach said goals. In my case, I am a black belt. However, it is not my black belt that means anything to me, nor is it the status. It's the experience and knowledge that the journey I had to take to reach such a status that is important. I want to be a Dr. because I want to help people, not because I want to be a Dr. You want to be a Prof. because of your deep love of a subject that you would love to continue to learn and develop through teaching. Neither of these goals are material in their nature; they both lead to a constant spiritual/philisophical continuation.
It's a need for spiritual/emotional fulfillment that drives us, an empty void. So yes, in theory, we are always going for "something more shiny". Unless you reach Nirvana, which is for a whole 'nother conversation... :)
It's funny...I haven't played my Wii for months now, but if I had the choice to go back and not get it, I wouldn't...the experience alone was worth every penny.
What's that saying...getting there is half the fun? I would say it's all the fun :) It's weird, because when I reflect, I somehow want to prefer the goal over the experience to it, because that seems to make more sense...but I can't see it that way. Life is motion, and without that motion there is no life worth living. So here's to motion!
Hey Snurp, Your "motivation" was written on July '07 and it's now Feb '09. Sometimes i wonder what is worse, having your head cut-off by a mad Islamic radical or a dad killing his family because of financial problems. I just read an article where a dad toke his wife and 11 year old son. here is the link if you don't believe me. www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,496025,00.html
Snurp, what is it worth when we should gain the whole world and find that it is nothing or it is boring.
The difference between the two mention above is that one has a choice. The second story is somewhat related to what you talk about motivation in one's life and the useless things we think is right. What is sad about the life we live is without God and His Son who comes to save and give life. What is it like to take your wife's and child's life because the experience of life is to difficult to handle and we are afraid to fail in our lives because we don't have an answer. I have found the answer which most people cannot see the details in a jot. Is it therefore bad?!
I have Armour on and sometimes i forget my sword. It is a battle out there and putting it on has shown what life is without it. Snurp, where is providence? For me and my house, we will serve the Lord. this is just me and i hope you don't mind me sharing this you.
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