Comments on: The Link between Security and Complacency

By: dcpatton

dcpatton — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:11:20 +0000

I agree with most of the article. I think you are right that complacency creeps in when the main motivation is just security. But I think there can be other forms of motivation which are completely independent of security. It could be some end goal that really drives one to work hard until you get to it. That can be a much more effective form of motivation. Of course, what if you got a taste of that end goal randomly (perhaps security could be an example). Would that be the most effective (Pavlovian) strategy?

By: Daniel Edlen

Daniel Edlen — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:07:05 +0000

Timing. I just saw that Joaquin Phoenix is leaving acting for a recording career. Artists, I suppose, thrive on risk and insecurity. The reason for so many successful unsuccessful artists. I agree that self-motivation becomes increasingly difficult when things are going swimmingly. But I also suppose that self-motivation is difficult period.

Peace.

By: Robert L. Gisel

Robert L. Gisel — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:27:23 +0000

Remember the Greek Generals; victorious, they were paraded through the streets lined with cheering crowds all the while a servant whispered repeatedly in the General’s ear, “all glory is fleeting’.

By: SoulRiser

SoulRiser — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:21:55 +0000

It makes sense. If money (or fame, or whatever) is your main motivator for doing whatever it is you do, of course it’s going to start running dry once you have ‘enough’. On the other hand, if your main motivator is to help as many people as you can, or be the best you can be… is there such a thing as ‘enough’? If you get complacent and stop trying hard, you are actually in fact going backwards. It’s like the one quote from Smallville I saw earlier. Cop guy says to Clark: “You can’t save everybody”… Clark replies: “The day I start believing that is the day I stop trying”.

By: Ted Hessing

Ted Hessing — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:31:09 +0000

Timely post, Chris. I was talking to some friends about the theme of ridiculous success. Reading 2 of my favorite authors and on-air personalitie’s first books(Anthony Bourdain – Kitchen Confidential and Jim Cramer’s Confessions) I saw a theme of complete and total lack of self-confidence in their early careers. No matter how good they were, they always saw themselves as the worst in the world. To make up for their self-percieved lack of talent, they worked harder and harder and harder. The prepared better than everyone else. They did their homework.

Maybe that’s why they were, and are, so ridiculously successful.

By: Trackback from Scott H Young

Trackback from Scott H Young — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:00:38 +0000

[...] I think this principle is true of a lot of things: when everything is going perfectly, fewer things get done. Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Nonconformity had a great entry recently on how uncertainty motivates him. I would generalize his theory to say that the low periods in your life are often your most productive. [...]

By: Robert L. Gisel

Robert L. Gisel — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:26:37 +0000

Hi Chris,

Stimulating post. I should probably follow your advice. Sticking to your postulation of three posts a week is good discipline. If you had a mag that had to go out monthly no matter what came along, what else would you do but make your deadlines.

I finally had the realization that all that I do which had seemed to be an assortment really isn’t. It was a logical solution to put all my creative works under one roof and call it a think tank and inventions laboratory, using Edison’s early establishment as a model. Not that I’m shooting for over a thousand patents like him, quite a remarkable, but my writing, screenplays and inventions all fit together in the one creative laboratory. Sanity reigns.

That doesn’t mean I am going to post on schedule though. But I do admire you for doing that and keeping to your game plan.

By: Mariana

Mariana — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:29:34 +0000

Interesting subject. I agree with Heather above that “it’s the feeling that what you do doesn’t matter that saps the will to go on”.

My fist full-time job was at a company regularly voted best employer in my country. It really is a great place, full of smart people, job security and excellent benefits. But about a year into the job, and due to personal problems, my productivity went down to less than 50% for about two months–and NO ONE noticed. It was incredibly demotivating to see how little my effort mattered in the end, and convinced me of leaving that place ASAP. I’m now in a much riskier environment, with higher stress, longer hours, and heavy travel. There are days when I hate all the time spent on the road, but overall, I very much prefer the extra effort over the earlier comfort.

By: Nathan Hangen

Nathan Hangen — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:02:43 +0000

The days I am striving to achieve something are the days I enjoy most. I enjoy the chase, not necessarily the prize (although I hope to get closer at some point).

When I get comfortable, I get bored. When I get bored, I usually do something that causes me to become uncomfortable, so in the end the process is sort of cyclical for me. I guess I just enjoy having something to work on.

Great post as always Chris.

By: PizzaForADream

PizzaForADream — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:07:05 +0000

Great post! I can relate big time. The same is true when you have a day with nothing to do vs. a day when you have absolutely spare no time. It’s the days when things are the most hectic that stuff gets done. On days when nothing is required that the least gets done as we all tend to squander that time. I’ve heard it said that you’ve got to have a HUGE “why” (dream) that keeps you going. Robert Schuller talks about the “Peak to Peek” principle and how if one works hard to reach their goal or “peak,” then as long as they are prepared for continued growing they will get a “peek” at a new and even higher goal or “peak” to strive for.

Success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal. It’s the process and the journey that count, not the destination!