So much to love and comment on here. But the part about distance running was spot on to my experience. I have come to regard it as "chipping away at my strength and mobility, rather than cultivating them" in recent years, and with that, I only run when the weather and overbursting energy pulls me. And then, where I used to push through and take pride in never stopping, fighting to maintain at least a slow running pace when I felt I wanted to stop, I now just walk--not only without guilt, but knowing that it's actually BETTER than running. And I go out for runs way less frequently in general. Never winter running anymore!
What I understand and believe about running now keeps me from it most of the time (even though I generally am good at it and love it. But for love, I would never do it at all now.)
There are people who are greatly allergic to making/having a vision of their life because intrinsically they enjoy things that don't naturally situate them towards such thoughts. These people are externally oriented towards things like being humorous, enjoying beauty, being loving, being socially adept, etc. For such people if they just become extremely aware and stick with their intrinsic interests, they will naturally orient themselves towards a worthwhile life and not as you say "ignor[ing] the future [and] liv[ing] with the consequences of that ignorance today". Well it's just a theory of someone who never really had the "vision" you talk of and intrinsically dislikes the idea of it overall. Although, I'm sure it would be useful to have a vision and overall concept of one's future and how our efforts fall into said concept. At the same time, the intrinsic motivation and having a lot of flow thanks to it in life is worth striving and can't be dismissed as easily as you seem to be doing by calling striving for said flow to be a "mistake". I believe that with my subset of intrinsic interests, setting a vision/concept-of-future-life and the self-deadlines that come along with it is not a "life well-lived" unless this vision materializes through the intrinsically motivated flow of life that I've designed for myself. And even if said vision doesn't materialize, I shall still be satisfied with trying my best without compromising on my values of fairness, kindness, open-mindedness and employing said values and their collateral skills in everything I do. On top of it I know people who prefer to avoid vision concept because they are excited to face different challenges, or excited to explore new ideas/situation, or excited to have a carefree life with a partner who leads them. I'm sure there are other subsets of intrinsic values that would clash heads with the idea that long term plan agency is the proper and best source of motivation in life.
Then again maybe I misunderstood the idea of the article, and the author is just arguing that every staying motivation out there is, in fact, "intrinsic" in nature due to the self-determination/agency aspect of human self-story-telling? In that case, I guess I agree, but the point of the essay diminishes significantly in its usefulness to the reader. I mean the reader probably wants to know how to specifically apply this "self-determination = motivation" idea. At least with the intrinsic motivation, it's pretty easy to understand application of the idea - you just pick a vocation that aligns with your intrinsic interests.. But with "self-determination" it's not as clear. Any vocation will do - just have to apply "I think, therefore I am" logic?
"Our conception of the future shapes our experience of the present. "
That's such a simple and yet profound and significant learning.
So much to love and comment on here. But the part about distance running was spot on to my experience. I have come to regard it as "chipping away at my strength and mobility, rather than cultivating them" in recent years, and with that, I only run when the weather and overbursting energy pulls me. And then, where I used to push through and take pride in never stopping, fighting to maintain at least a slow running pace when I felt I wanted to stop, I now just walk--not only without guilt, but knowing that it's actually BETTER than running. And I go out for runs way less frequently in general. Never winter running anymore!
What I understand and believe about running now keeps me from it most of the time (even though I generally am good at it and love it. But for love, I would never do it at all now.)
There are people who are greatly allergic to making/having a vision of their life because intrinsically they enjoy things that don't naturally situate them towards such thoughts. These people are externally oriented towards things like being humorous, enjoying beauty, being loving, being socially adept, etc. For such people if they just become extremely aware and stick with their intrinsic interests, they will naturally orient themselves towards a worthwhile life and not as you say "ignor[ing] the future [and] liv[ing] with the consequences of that ignorance today". Well it's just a theory of someone who never really had the "vision" you talk of and intrinsically dislikes the idea of it overall. Although, I'm sure it would be useful to have a vision and overall concept of one's future and how our efforts fall into said concept. At the same time, the intrinsic motivation and having a lot of flow thanks to it in life is worth striving and can't be dismissed as easily as you seem to be doing by calling striving for said flow to be a "mistake". I believe that with my subset of intrinsic interests, setting a vision/concept-of-future-life and the self-deadlines that come along with it is not a "life well-lived" unless this vision materializes through the intrinsically motivated flow of life that I've designed for myself. And even if said vision doesn't materialize, I shall still be satisfied with trying my best without compromising on my values of fairness, kindness, open-mindedness and employing said values and their collateral skills in everything I do. On top of it I know people who prefer to avoid vision concept because they are excited to face different challenges, or excited to explore new ideas/situation, or excited to have a carefree life with a partner who leads them. I'm sure there are other subsets of intrinsic values that would clash heads with the idea that long term plan agency is the proper and best source of motivation in life.
Then again maybe I misunderstood the idea of the article, and the author is just arguing that every staying motivation out there is, in fact, "intrinsic" in nature due to the self-determination/agency aspect of human self-story-telling? In that case, I guess I agree, but the point of the essay diminishes significantly in its usefulness to the reader. I mean the reader probably wants to know how to specifically apply this "self-determination = motivation" idea. At least with the intrinsic motivation, it's pretty easy to understand application of the idea - you just pick a vocation that aligns with your intrinsic interests.. But with "self-determination" it's not as clear. Any vocation will do - just have to apply "I think, therefore I am" logic?
Maybe I need to re-read :)