I’m not 100% sure, but I think I got more hard-working when I started university. I think this was basically because at school I found it easy to do well, and was also a teacher’s pet/people pleaser, so I didn’t really have the notion of ‘doing less well at schoolwork than was physically possible’ (ie ‘half-assing it with all you’ve got’). But at university stuff got harder, obviously. So basically the bar for quality was raised but I didn’t lower my expectations of myself accordingly: it didn’t occur to me that I could just submit a shitty essay, or submit it late. I also really enjoyed the work and found it stimulating and gratifying, which helped. (I’m sure this is the rose-coloured glasses, but I kind of miss sitting in the library at 3am feeling full of adrenaline and Insights).
Since then, my hard-workingness has fluctuated. I think things that affect it most are: -interest in what I’m working on -accountability to others, but it has to be real and not just a thing I’ve set up as a productivity hack (so deadlines set with academic supervisors or clients = motivating, self-imposed deadlines/beeminder/accountability buddies = not motivating)
I think stuff like productivity hacks haven’t helped much, and inner work has generally taken me in the opposite direction) (ie, it’s made me more aware of the costs of working too hard and neglecting other values).
Interesting question to think about!
I’m not 100% sure, but I think I got more hard-working when I started university. I think this was basically because at school I found it easy to do well, and was also a teacher’s pet/people pleaser, so I didn’t really have the notion of ‘doing less well at schoolwork than was physically possible’ (ie ‘half-assing it with all you’ve got’). But at university stuff got harder, obviously. So basically the bar for quality was raised but I didn’t lower my expectations of myself accordingly: it didn’t occur to me that I could just submit a shitty essay, or submit it late. I also really enjoyed the work and found it stimulating and gratifying, which helped. (I’m sure this is the rose-coloured glasses, but I kind of miss sitting in the library at 3am feeling full of adrenaline and Insights).
Since then, my hard-workingness has fluctuated. I think things that affect it most are:
-interest in what I’m working on
-accountability to others, but it has to be real and not just a thing I’ve set up as a productivity hack (so deadlines set with academic supervisors or clients = motivating, self-imposed deadlines/beeminder/accountability buddies = not motivating)
I think stuff like productivity hacks haven’t helped much, and inner work has generally taken me in the opposite direction) (ie, it’s made me more aware of the costs of working too hard and neglecting other values).