Motivations
When you think about your future or even the universe’s future you realize something. At the end of the day, it all ends. Nothing is permanent and it will all come to a close in one way or another. That’s why the idea of legacy projects always seemed odd to me. Now that doesn’t include the idea of heaven which I guess would be a good rebuttal but with regards to what we know we are all gonna meet our end one day.
Does this matter at all?
When thinking about this it’s easy to get sunk into an idea of “why try if nothing matters?”. The funny thing is that the statement is not wrong. Nothing matters. There is no point in trying. But the more complete idea would be: Nothing matters. There is no point in trying if you only care about things that last forever. However as humans we are biologically hardwired to not care about things lasting forever. We constantly seek out ways to achieve temporary happiness, contentment, and peace. It’s the reason we seek to make extravagant meals instead of just eating rice and beans everyday. The same reason why we take a hot shower rather than a lukewarm one. We play music rather than sitting in silence. We are always looking to improve our current situation with something that brings us more joy.
Why do we make bad decisions?
Then is it that we find it so easy to fall into depression and anxiety which stops us from seeking this joy in the more abstract parts of our lives? Unlike choosing a shower setting or choosing scallop risotto over Soylent the choice to push on and make macro decisions that bring joy to us is a harder decision. It’s not a simple task. It takes sustained effort to get to the goal. When there’s an unclear goal and a set of obstacles in the way of it we won’t automatically make thee choice. We will stop and think. We will feel the effort we are putting in and wonder if it is worth it. We will notice that we are experiencing pain that is not being displaced by joy.
Enjoy the process
That’s why so many people talk about enjoying the process. Whether or not we can do that is probably up to psychologists but I choose to believe that we can. I’ve seen many times before how my brain can be rewired by simple choices. It may seem odd but it works. You just need to be willing to stop and rethink the automatic decision that your brain made. Maybe you stopped and thought this isn’t worth it. Now you need to choose the opposite. Stop and tell yourself “this is worth it”. Remind yourself “I enjoy putting in this work”.
Find balance
Be careful to strike a balance with this. If you fall in love with work so much you may never stop to enjoy the results that your work brings you. But maybe that’s okay too. If it brings you joy then are you not enjoying it just because you aren’t spending time relaxing in your success?