One of my favorite pieces of motivational psychology is the idea of self-loyalty, which suggests that it is much easier to overcome willpower sinks, genuinely difficult tasks, and generalized akrasia if you can convincingly say to yourself, "yes, this currently sucks, but I'll have fun later". In other words, if you take consistent good care of your body and mind, it will deliver when you need it to.
My spin on this idea is putting your desire for sleep, entertainment, relaxation, and so on into a box called the monkey. This is a similar notion to the ape-brain, but that phrase often comes off slightly antagonistic. That's not what I'm going for here.
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| It may shock you to learn that he's not your enemy. |
The monkey is you. It's the part of you that wants both physical and intellectual pleasures. The part that wants to sleep in, the part that wants to read books and watch movies, that part that wants to eat delicious meals. The part that wants hugs and camaraderie and an endless supply of kitten gifs.
Generally, the monkey will make very reasonable requests. Give him eight hours of sleep a night, enough food of sufficient quality, and a decent amount of entertainment and he will go along with whatever work you need to get done. Many times, that work will even benefit the monkey down the road (provided you pay up), but the monkey is not particularly smart.
More importantly, the monkey's trust is easily damaged. Willpower varies between individuals, so certain people can power through longer than others, but on the whole the monkey will eventually throw and fit and refuse to go along until some or all of his needs are met.
When this happens regularly, his demands will increase, just like a creditor will raise the interest rate on debts they're worried won't be paid back. Just like with creditors, this does not necessarily increase the odds of getting what's wanted, but is a rational response in the short term. Convincing the bank agent to keep your rates low requires evidence that you will be able to pay. Similarly, convincing the monkey to back down will require that you demonstrate that you do, in fact, have his best interests at heart.
If you consistently give the monkey what he wants, an occasional privation will not require a huge leap of intellectual faith. If, however, you don't pay your debts reliably, you can bet the monkey will be very unlikely to trust you in the future.
Promising the monkey a fortnight of rest and relaxation, of time to work on recreation and projects strictly selfish in purpose, is how I got through the last month of school projects and exams. The monkey did not want to do it, but he's sufficiently perceptive to realize that I was serious. Now it's time to pay up.
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| C'mon, give him what he wants. |
This fall I will be taking senior design, along with three other technical classes. This will not be an easy undertaking, and I've been greatly concerned about my ability to meet those challenges. Another school break spent suffering and I won't be. Only if I lay down enough principal during May and August will I make graduation on time.
So, for the next few weeks, I'll be giving the monkey what he wants. Then it's back to work, but with a mind towards keeping that part of me not subdued but satisfied.
