Our Little Update #1: Trouble Writing About Motivation
Plus some dope recommendations!
Hello! Glad to see you here :)
It’s the first time I’m doing a personal update! I’m really excited. It feels so cool hehe.
Ok so! I’m gonna give you a writing update and at the end I’ll recommend to you some dope things I found surfing on the interweb (as the kids say).
Let’s begin!
Writing Update
First, not gonna lie, things haven’t gone so smoothly.
I wanted to publish the first article on my motivation series this week, but as you can see that hasn’t happened. That’s fine. All the components are shimmering in my head and I’ve written some thoughts on Obsidian.
Uuu! Since we are among homies, I’ll give you a sneak peek 👀:
and
Forgive the spelling mistakes or if it doesn’t make sense. These are my thoughts in their most raw form.
I’ve come up with interesting motivation insights, but they just haven’t formed into a logical progression of articles. I’m completely fine with that, it’s part of the process.
But it gives me anxiety that I haven’t published consistently. It deeply confuses my being. I almost feel like I’m broken because I love writing. I freaking adore it. But unless I “force” myself to write I don’t do it. That seems deeply troubling to me.
How is it for you?
I don’t always have to force it. When I’m in the groove of publishing consistently I just kinda sit down to write.
People say that doing something you love is effortless. That’s not my case. When I sit down to start writing most times I end up watching videos or reading articles; things I also enjoy very much but not what I wanted to do.
It is a profoundly weird experience. I want to do something but I don’t do it.
It’s mind-bogglin’.
I want to learn more about how motivation works precisely because it would impact my life enormously.
I’ve recently developed a framework distinguishing “cognitive” vs “environmental” motivation theories. It has proved helpful. I’m hopeful and excited about our journey in understanding motivation.
That’s me. Hopefully, in 1-2 weeks you’ll see the first article of the motivation series.
Now let’s go to the part where I recommend some really dope findings.
Recommendations
Attractor Landscapes
Why do many complex systems – cultures, environments, economies – seem stuck (or if good, "stable") despite lots of effort to change them? And why, when change does come, it seems to cascade (or if bad, "collapse") all at once?
There's a tool that can help us understand this: attractor landscapes. This tool was first created in the field of physics, but has since been used to help us understand genetics, neuroscience, political alliances, and more!
This is a really cool page, it’s interactive so you really embody the knowledge. I love these types of things. This is the Internet at its best.
Excuse me but why are you eating so many frogs
I think the devil is real and he wants you to be more productive. He’s everywhere, spreading wickedness disguised as wisdom.
If you get a Chipotle gift card when you meet a deadline and a public shaming when you miss a deadline, guess what buddy: you’re in hell.
[A frog is a task that you despise doing but it needs to be done]
The internet is full of this devilry. Millions of articles about how to find frogs, season frogs, cook frogs, and unhinge your jaw so you can cram more frogs down your gullet. Want to optimize your frog-eating? Just fork over $597 for a 12-session e-course!
Amidst it all, nobody’s asking the obvious question: Dude, why are you eating frogs??
This is a really insightful article. Why do we do things we don’t want to do? Highly entertaining and poignant. Give it a read.
F for Fake (1973) - How to Structure a Video Essay
If you want to make video essays, there’s no better film to study than Orson Welles’ 1973 masterpiece, F for Fake. There are a million lessons to take away from it, but today, let’s see what it has to teach us about structure.
I’ve been in 4-hour classes that aren’t are useful as these 4 minutes. If you tell stories, written or in video this will be extremely useful for you. A four-minute master class on storytelling.
How Do I Learn X?
Just some really useful gems about learning in general and specifically about learning math, writing, coding, making games, going indie, and good mental health. Nicky Case makes some really cool stuff.
Anyway, that’s all for today. See you in the next article.
Hope you have a wondrous day!
You comment "People say that doing something you love is effortless." Who are those people?, I don’t buy it, this sentence is not true. You always do the things that you love, but sometimes are effortless and sometimes they are going to be hard to it. It's complete normal.
Just remember, if the work can be doing easily all the time, everybody can do it.
So, it it’s important to find the rights motivations to encourage doing the work, and these motivations may be to be different for each work to do, or may be similar o the same. But I am sure that always are in motion.
Finally, the topic of your article is so interesting and it is worth to think about it.