There are three ways to pursue a goal, in my experience, which are:

  • work
  • play
  • habit

Work requires labor, with some type of an external motivator – such as money, fame, or admiration – creating the incentive to, well, work. The activity is not necessarily enjoyable in and of itself, and is often at odds with what someone wants to do.

Thus it is essential that the external motivator equal or exceed the reluctance or inability to work. And as one acclimates to where that motivator becomes expected, then there has to be more external motivation. But when the external motivation is gone, or isn’t enough, the work stops.

That is what drives people often, especially in their jobs and careers.

Better than that, play can be done without being motivated by outside forces. We do that simply because we enjoy it – the activity is its own reward. With that, we can usually “play” for a long time, and when exerting ourselves heavily.

Those usually are our hobbies, or what I call “Solitary” in the Eight Categories.

Habits are done automatically, whether enjoyable or not. They require no thought, but usually don’t require much effort, at least, not enough to the point that we would have to make a decision about whether to do the activity.

The key is to mix the three, since all are necessary for success. We can start by playing with an activity, doing the parts of it that we enjoy, such as writing software (at least, the fun parts). Work comes in for the elements that we don’t like, such as handling user requests and debugging problems. As we either play or work consistently, those activities become habits, where they are no longer conscious decisons.

That last point is key: success comes when, via habits, our brainpower and willpower are no longer devoted to making the decisions about the mundane things we might rather not do. With that, we have more energy and attentiveness for being more creative and working harder in other areas.

It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle — they are strictly limited in number, they require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments. – Alfred North Whitehead

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