Subject: Re: Bohr's way From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 10 Oct 2002 18:21:49 +0000 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3243262909361530@naggum.no> * Charlton Wilbur <cwilbur@mithril.chromatico.net> | I think there may be a better phrasing than short-term versus long-term | self-esteem, but I can't think of it. No doubt someone will post it, and | it will be obvious in retrospect. Perhaps pleasure/pain in the short term and happiness/unhappiness in the long term. These seem to cover what I think you mean. Self-esteem being a result of either, in different capacities. It may feel good to win a battle, but if you see that you will lose the war, it may or may not help. | The jobs I do worst at are the ones where the struggle is entirely | political, or where the technical matters are problems I've already | solved, or where I'm the sole person who is working at a particular | level. I have come to believe that politics is usually conducted by stupid and incompetent people and therefore do not attract smart and competent people, but if you are a smart and competent person who wants to get something done, it is a actually game worth knowing well, and you can get a lot more done with lots of people backing you than you can alone. If you do not do well in a job where you are the only person at a particular level, the solution seems to work to get more people up to your level. (This is partly my motivation for using Usenet, and it works both ways.) | Also, the end result needs to be something I care about, or the technical | issues involved need to be interesting, or there's little reward in it | for me. Money is a tremendously poor motivator for me. Money seems to be a good motivator only up to a certain level. However, the news story written by Alfie Kohn and run by Boston Globe 1987-01-19 gives an important perspective. (In Emacs, hit <help> N to get the NEWS file, then C-x C-f MOTIVATION to get this article. If you do not use Emacs, your very best option is to start using it now, the second best to visit <http://naggum.net/motivation.html>. | If I don't pay attention, I go for small immediate gratification over | long-term reward every time. But at least you are aware of it and presumably pay attention when it matters, which makes it a choice. My cat has a funny way of getting between immediate gratification and long-term goals. For some reason, she insists that if the only thing in my line of sight is a newspaper or a book or even a print-out, that should be rectified immediately with a purring furball. Her long-term goal is contant immediate gratification, or so it seems. -- Erik Naggum, Oslo, Norway Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder. Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.