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brazil84 comments on Notes on Actually Trying - Less Wrong Discussion
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It's not exactly related to this post but I just wondered why procrastination seems to be so much a problem of our time. Can it be that we are so comfortable and secure that when we hit minor obstacles that feel like not worth the effort our motivation immediately declines. Think of it as you sitting in a local maximum with all other (local) maxima being only slightly higher compared to the deep abyss of subsistence and the valleys between the peaks are also relatively deep (compared to the expected gain).
I seem to remember that studies show that you are more productive if you are hungry. Could confirm this idea.
For me, I find that part of the problem is that when I have problem or goal, I sometimes fantasize about finding a good solution. So that the prospect of rolling up my sleeves and getting to work makes me worry that I will fail which would ruin the fantasy.
So for example, if I were an engineer (which I am not), I might have an idea for an invention one day, and then daydream about the millions I would make if I successfully developed the invention and brought it to market. Not to mention the acclaim for having come up with some great idea.
Of course one of the first steps in developing my invention would be to do searches to see if anything similar had been invented previously. The prospect of this would make me nervous, because if somebody already came up with the idea, it would ruin the fantasy. So it's easy to procrastinate. Which makes the problem even worse, because I would have the additional worry that I would learn that during the time I was procrastinating, somebody else developed the idea, which would make me feel like a complete goofball.
You illustrate the key point: You don't need to follow up on your idea. You don't stay hungry or experience ridicule when you don't. Many earlier inventors did. The young edison sold many inventions to get money - and was force to do so. Later he fought other inventors.