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.