Complex Numbers

Just Right

Discuss the “Goldilocks Rule of Motivation” as described on the website below. “Human beings love challenges, but only if they are within the optimal zone of difficulty. Tasks that are significantly below your current abilities are boring. Tasks that are significantly beyond your current abilities are discouraging. But tasks that are right on the border of success and failure are incredibly motivating to our human brains.”

https://jamesclear.com/motivation#How%20to%20Stay%20Motivated

The argument presented is logical, but as with many logical arguments, I question the basic premise.

Human beings love challenges, but only if they are within the optimal zone of difficulty. Tasks that are significantly below your current abilities are boring. Tasks that are significantly beyond your current abilities are discouraging. But tasks that are right on the border of success and failure are incredibly motivating to our human brains. We want nothing more than to master a skill just beyond our current horizon.

There are things this theory fails to take into account. For one, the very human aversion to failure. For another, the also very human fear of success.

And it doesn't provide room for the other thing that's always held me back: depression.

As I've said before, some of my favorite art has been motivated by depression. It can be a profound driving force in creating emotional work. First and foremost among these, for me, is the music of people like Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen, both of whom have publicly chronicled their battles with severe depression.

And yet, there's a difference. Springsteen achieved fame and fortune. Cohen - well, maybe not as famous, but you've heard his stuff whether you realize it or not. They're both pervasive in Western culture, and they achieved this in spite of their mental health issues, or perhaps because of them. Could you imagine a song like "Hallelujah" coming from a balanced, healthy and happy mind?

Most people are more familiar with some of the covers of this song, which is fine, but it was Cohen who wrote it.

Point is, these people have accomplished something very public and long-lasting, where for most of us, depression just keeps us from doing stuff in the first place.

Perhaps it came easily for them. Maybe the act of songwriting (or creating whatever art), recording, and performing something like that was right on the edge of success and failure for them.

For me, a good example of a task that's right on the edge of success and failure is cooking a halfway healthy meal. I mean, shit, I have to buy prewashed broccoli because I can't be arsed to wash the little buggers. And yet I still screw that up more often than not. Most days, even the thought of feeding myself can be overwhelming, no matter how simple. So it usually goes like this: I'm not hungry, so I'm not going to cook. Then, I start getting a little hungry, but I think about all the work it's going to take to open a fucking bag of broccoli, pour olive oil into a pan, mixing in other ingredients, etc., and I balk. Then I get really damn hungry, so ordering a pizza is looking more and more likely.

Well, okay, I haven't actually ordered a pizza since I decided to lose weight, but the principle remains. What motivates me to lose weight, I still don't know. Just to see if I can do it, I guess; my doctor told me I'd die if I didn't, and I just shrugged. I mean, I'm going to die anyway, right? We all are, at some point, and I might as well go out on my own terms.

So the idea of using my depression to fuel great art is laughable to me. So is the idea of motivation of any sort. I consider myself fortunate if I drag my ass out of bed in the morning.

So ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.