Open Thread, June 2-15, 2013

TimS

If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

I'd like to put out a call for anecdata, if I may:

Lately I've been wondering how much of a causal connection there is between happiness/fulfillment and willpower (or, conversely, akrasia) levels. I feel like I'm not especially fulfilled or happy in my life right now, and I can't help but feel intuitively that this is one cause of the difficulty I seem to have in focusing, concentrating, and putting effort into what I want to. However, I've no idea whether there's actually anything in this.

So: I guess I wondered if anyone has any personal accounts of (medium- to long-term) mood affecting akrasia levels in their own lives? I invite you to share here. (Also welcomed: advice; discussion; pointers to actual, nonanecdotal, study-type data.)

I've noticed the converse seems to be true in me, at least to a degree: getting useful work done causes me to feel happier. I have not noticed happiness causing me to get more useful work done.

4gothgirl42066613y

This is definitely the case according to my experiences and pretty much every self-help text I've ever read. You might want to check out this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broaden-and-build

0[anonymous]13y

Interesting. My correlations go in the opposite direction.

9

Open Thread, June 2-15, 2013

9

9

9

Open Thread, June 2-15, 2013

9

9