Conversation

Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
I love the way this inverts the typical angle on productivity. "Motivation is a skill"… but not in a making-bullet-lists or use-a-pomodoro sense; rather, the skill lies in getting better at amplifying the quiet voice that's telling you what you find most meaningful.
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Venkatesh Rao
@vgr
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Motivation is a skill. Wanting things is not something you can just “do” beyond lollipop level at age 3. You have to learn to zoom in on the thing that vaguely attracts you, with enough precision that the motivational feedback loop kicks in. Like a starter motor.
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4:57 PM · Jul 5, 2020Twitter Web App
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Luc P. Beaudoin
@LucCogZest
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@andy_matuschak
The ↑ majority of personal productivity frameworks have no theory of motivation which is a a very complex matter of motive processing—_Cognitive Productivity: Using Knowledge to Become Profoundly Effective_
leanpub.com
Cognitive Productivity
You distinguish yourself from others not so much by what you've read, viewed or listened to, but by the lasting impact that information has had upon you. How can you use knowledge to become a more...
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kevinmcld
@kevinmcld
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@andy_matuschak
Motivation is very hard wired, you may have lost touch with it through mediated states and consider your reacquisition of this as a 'skill.' But semantically it's wired for action.
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kevinmcld
@kevinmcld
@vgr
"the brain's fundamental priority is not to faithfully 'represent' the world, but to simulate practically useful aspects of it based on prior experience and select the most advantageous action in the current situation" - Buzsaki 2020 Brain From Inside Out.
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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
It’s funny: my instinct is that it’s easier to test than most other things! People with this skill pursue idiosyncratic activities for fascinating and determined reasons. Conversation is disorienting, but in a very positive way. High entropy!
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