Quantum Storytelling

In Personality Styles & Writing Habits I talked about how important it is to fire the inner nazi. If you listen to the inner nazi, you will approach everything you do with dread. This is no way to be productive. If you’re not enjoying yourself, you’re not going to put as much effort into it, and you won’t be happy with either the process or the end result. The inner nazi can suffocate even the most enjoyable things in your life. It’s up to you to not let that happen.

At the lowest point, the inner nazi has taken over and stripped the fun out of everything. In the past when I felt like this, I’d sometimes also reach a point of great clarity and insight. I would think of the times I’ve had both the most fun and been the most productive. In those moments I was able to achieve what Mihály Csíkszentmihályi calls Flow.

Even though the study of flow is mostly anecdotal and not very scientific, whatever the root causes in the brain, the kind of fun focus known as flow truly does exist. What isn’t clear, is how people achieve flow or initiate it, especially if they are stumbling out of a fight with the inner nazi.

I’m not sure how other people do it, but here is how I like to tackle the issue of motivating myself.

One is to stop using phrases like, “I have to,” or “I need to.” These phrases instantly cue your mind to treat an activity like a chore. “I have to,” conjurs words and thoughts such as: Drudgery, obligation, tradition, custom, responsibility, owe, debt. It promotes thoughts like “I owe it to this other person or myself,” and “I have a responsibility to…” You’re not doing it because you want to, you’re doing it because you feel like you’re obligated. This is no way to feel good about anything.

Allowing your mind to make these kinds of associations is the quickest path to dread, and dragging your feet. What’s worse is we often aren’t even aware when do it. Some of us have been engaged in this terrible habit since we were children. It’s old Protestant work ethic rearing its ugly head, though I should add that the Protestants aren’t the only experts at inspiring feelings of guilt or debt to anyone and everyone outside of oneself.

Every culture, subculture, religion, or organization has memes, rules, and values that an individual can internalize in a negative way. You can free yourself from the shackles of mental slavery without compromising your values, and through a simple excercise we can see how to do that.

1. Think of an activity you dislike. This will work for activities you like but actively dread, like sitting down to write. But for the sake of example, pick a task or chore that you extremely dislike.
2. Take stock of your first thoughts when picturing the activity. A lot of people I know hate raking the leaves from their yard. Visualizing this I’m sure initial thoughts are along the lines of, “Ugh, back and forth motion tiring my arms, and the slightest gust of wind blows the leaves from the pile and I have to start all over again.” You start down this mental path and pretty soon you’re thinking, “I’m going to get sweaty doing this, it’s going to take me a long time. That’s time I’d rather spend doing something else. BLAH!”
3. Now STOP. Freeze all thoughts of the activity. Take a breath. Ask yourself one simple question; “What are the benefits?” What do you gain? “Nothing,” is an illegal answer. Banned. Outlawed. The inner nazi is fired, remember?

   For raking leaves, benefits outside of having a clean yard might be: Fresh air, exercise, an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, free time to think while you go about the motions of dragging the rake. Maybe you can work out a problem that’s been plaguing you. We all need a little thinking time. It might be a chance to zone out while being productive. Your neighbors won’t snicker at your yard. Maybe this is also the chance to let the dog out. Maybe in between a few piles of leaves you can play with the dog a bit. There’s nothing that says the activity has to be boring and useless. That’s the inner nazi dictating his or her version of the world.

4. Add play. In your raking you might find a stick or tree branch. As you go to remove it, try tossing it towards a target, or whacking the dead limb of a tree nearby. See how far you can throw the stick. Maybe the dog wants to go after it? A little bounce in your step goes a long way. You’ll be too absorbed to think about how much you hate the activity in general.

Raking leaves is just an example activity. It’s something that a lot of people hate. You will get even more mileage by applying this mental process to activities that you enjoy, even if you have been approaching them with a sense of dread.

I often get hung up on a particular scene in my story. The inner nazi might start to creep up again, inspiring the sense of dread because I’m stuck on that particular scene. Just remember it’s all a trick, an illusion. There’s no rule that says, “I have to focus on that scene until my brain rots and I want to die.”

You make the rules, you can pick another scene to work on, or no scene at all. You can do some background writing or flesh out the history of a character. There are a million ways you can work on your story, that don’t involve the problem scene, poor plot point, or whatever element you’ve built up anxiety over. You can walk away at any time without having to abandon your writing, or whatever creative activity that you may be feeling anxiety about.

Now we come to the most secret insight about motivation; Play and productivity are the exact same thing. When I’m deeply absorbed in a book or a video game, I’m working really hard putting together the pieces, looking, learning, visualizing concepts and sorting out conflicts in my head. Yet we rarely think of this kind of activity as work, do we? But it is. So just apply the reverse to the things you consider as work.

Whatever the activity, there are set of principles and mechanics you can play with. Maybe there is a faster way you can do something? Maybe you can make a metagame or minigame within the activity. Raking example: “Instead of little piles, how big a single pile could I make?” Or try the opposite. “Maybe I can stage a bunch of tiny piles that don’t wear me out much?” Even better; “Maybe I can form the piles in a pattern, like the sides of a set of dice!” Before long, you won’t have any leaves left.

One writing example might be to take a trouble scene or chapter, detach yourself from whatever original ideas you had and try writing the scene five different ways. Break all the rules, try something radically different. See where it goes. Nothing says you have to use any particular one of those five. Maybe you can incorporate elements of all of them. Maybe after doing it you’ll realize that none of them work, and now you either scrap the scene or try an entirely different approach.

The key is to game the activity to completion. Every trouble point is an opportunity for play, a challenge.

Approach your goal with a playful attitude. You might find both motivation and productivity come naturally. Don’t tell the inner nazi, but you might even have fun!