Motivation Sources
May 24, 2023
Current location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Reading: Outlive by Peter Attia
Listening: Echo by Lucinda Chua(if you have a moment, reply with your own 3-item status via email or in the comments)
Motivation Sources
To what degree is what I want shaped by how I think others will treat me if I get it?
This is a question I ask myself semi-regularly, as I think it helps me focus on what's truly important to me—in an internal, holistic sense—rather than on impressive-seeming, socially (or tribally) respectable trophies that may earn me accolades, but will not necessarily contribute to my fulfillment and growth.
For many of us, there isn’t an obvious, intuitive delineation between "things I want because I, personally, will be fulfilled by them in some way" and "things I want because other people will be impressed if I have them, which will then maybe fulfill me in some way," but it's worth attempting categorization because of how these motivations can shape our lives.
Something I try to remember when mulling over new enthusiasms is that while I may discover useful, valuable, fulfilling activities and pursuits by exploring the portfolio of goals and rewards offered up by society, pursued by others, and presented to me via all sorts of messaging and cultural norms, filtering these possible “wants” through the sieve of “will this produce an internal sense of satisfaction, or mostly just a social one?” tends to help me home in on the actual motivations behind such pursuits.
This, in turn, helps me focus my time and attention (and resources) on the most directly valuable stuff (for me and my priorities).
From there I can ask myself “What is it that I find to be valuable about this specific pastime?” or “What is the fundamental benefit of investing myself in this over something other thing I might invest in, instead?”
This can help me more clearly see what it is about a particular want that is desirable, which in turn makes it easier (though not always negligible) to categorize that want as an extrinsic (borrowed from others) or intrinsic (inherent to me) desire.
I try to prioritize the latter whenever possible, but also allow for the possibility that the former may (at times) provide inspiration or direction toward the latter, or that a widely held extrinsic goal might turn out to be intrinsic to me (that’s a tricky line to walk, though, as extrinsic goals can superficially seem intrinsic if we don’t give them a close enough look or approach them with humility).
It’s an imperfect process, determining the sources of one’s motivations.
We’re memetic creatures, looking out into the world to ascertain what’s valuable and thus worthy of pursuit, and this is true for everything from the clothes we wear to the labels we use to define ourselves.
Periodically checking in can help, though, especially when we’re considering a major investment (of time, energy, or resources) or significant pivot (new job, new relationship, new self-definition) and are keen to figure out if that potential realignment will move us closer to someplace we’d actually like to be, or if it will simply relocate us to someplace different from where we are, currently.
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My Work, Elsewhere
Aspiring Generalist / Brain Lenses (podcast) / Climate Happenings / Let’s Know Things (podcast) / Never Not Curious / Notes On the News / One Sentence News (podcast) / You Probably Don’t Need
Might I suggest reading:
Interesting & Useful
The Mesmerizing Motion of Walking “Spider” Excavators
“These little-known machines have to rank as some of the greatest sandpit toys in history. Walking spider excavators offer an extraordinary range of capabilities through their articulating, extending legs, stabilizers, tilting wheels, and buckets.”
Icy Wilderness of Antarctica Captured in Beautiful Landscape Photos
“Waider visited Antarctica at the end of 2019 via the ship Bark Europa. When he arrived at the continent, he was immediately struck by the light and textures of the numerous icebergs floating in the dark blue waters. “Icebergs reveal their journey and countless rotations in their structures and shapes: from smooth and polished to angular and rough,” Waider tells My Modern Met. “I was particularly fascinated by the endless variations of the color blue that is revealed in the ice of the glaciers and also in the surrounding waters. Especially on cloudy days, the blue appears particularly intense, as if it shines from inside.””
The Smartphone Effect on the Camera Market (Animated Chart)
“The smartphone camera has come a long way since the early 2000s, and its impact on the overall camera market cannot be understated. In fact, modern smartphones have become so sophisticated that the CEO of Sony’s semiconductor manufacturing company predicts that smartphone cameras will soon produce better quality images than DSLR cameras. Whether smartphones will be able to completely replace standalone cameras is still a contentious debate topic, but one thing is clear—while smartphone sales have skyrocketed over the last decade, digital camera sales have plummeted.”
Outro
I’m back in the US after my Costa Rica trip, and though I enjoyed essentially every aspect from it (presenting my talk, the people, the location) I did have a sub-par flying experience on the way home: four hours stranded on a tarmac (due to a storm in Dallas), flights rearranged so that I was delayed by a day (though I was originally meant to be two days late, so silver-linings I guess!), and now I’m working through some kind of upper-respiratory thing that’s made the past couple of days pretty painful (while also making all the audio-recording work I’ve had to do a lot more cumbersome than is usually the case).
I think I may be on the last day (last significant day, anyway) of nasal-passage pain, but man—I had really hoped to avoid this sort of thing (three of the last four trips for which I’ve flown somewhere have resulted in what seems to be some kind of cold or flu; negative COVID tests across the board, but who knows what that means these days?) and though I wore a mask assiduously, nature apparently finds a way (into my nasal passages)!
All that said, I feel very fortunate to be taking these little trips in the first place, to be able to complain about such mundane issues (they stand out because I’m otherwise doing well), and I’m looking forward to a series of other small trips (in-country, right now) that are beginning to pop up on my calendar :)
What are you up to these days? What’s on your mind, on your agenda, on your list of next-steps ambitions? Consider dropping me a quick hello to introduce yourself, tell me what’s what, or for no reason at all—reply directly to this newsletter or send an email to colin@exilelifestyle.com. I respond to every email I get and would love to hear from you!
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