KatieHartman comments on Try more things. - Less Wrong

45 Post author: whales 12 January 2014 01:25AM

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Comment author: KatieHartman 14 January 2014 04:21:22PM 0 points [-]

I'm much less (emotionally) motivated to try new things/deviate from my routine than I'd like to be, especially when an intervention's purpose is to improve something I'm currently not doing very well at. For example, I feel a lot more motivated to try something that might further improve a project that's already going very well than I am to try something that might turn around a project that's failing. I suspect that this is related to ugh fields. Any suggestions?

Comment author: whales 16 January 2014 01:19:40AM 0 points [-]

I have one project that came to mind immediately when I read your comment, so I feel like I know what you mean. A fix turned out to be "tell a friend I want to do X, and ask her to remind + encourage me when the appropriate chance comes up." But social-commitment-type things don't always apply.

I have more experience with projects that started becoming aversive, and that pushed me harder (both emotionally and otherwise) to tweak my approach, which in the end led to renewed focus and progress. Having those examples available helps motivate me in situations where I don't otherwise want to attend to operations long enough to change them from their default. Could the same be true for you? That's the only general suggestion I have.