So quotable: born on a Saturday

[flexagon]

Toledo on Facebook:

Hard work is everything, because most won't go beyond it. The truth is I am known in some places for my systematic, analytical approach to the madness, intelligent progressions, etc, but number one thing that makes me successful in what I do is that both me and my close students are outworking the rest of the scene. Realize it, people, when you come once more asking for my magic powder.

Someone else:

from my own limited experience- Giving effort and having discipline ARE gift

Someone else:

blah blah God-given blah

Toledo in response to both:

Working hard is not a gift, it's a value and an ideal. One can learn it, develop it, work at it, improve it and use it. Leave G out of it, i was born on a Saturday and it's his rest day.

I had to go and check. Damn it, I was born on a Wednesday, or I'd be using that quote for the rest of my life.

He also says "the long run is composed of short runs." Right! Off to the gym.

Comments

[randysmith]

I believe this, but I so don't have much self-discipline (or, I think the ability to acquire it ... oooh, shiny!), so it makes me sad to read :-J. The attitude I take is that, without self-discipline, I need to find another path that intelligently manages what I do have (insight&smarts, a certain tendency towards obsession, an urge to please, and an insatiable curiosity). On the external merits, I haven't done that badly. But it does make me sad, because something I think about what I could do if I managed all that *and* self-discipline. But you gotta use what you have.

And I too was born on a Wednesday, or I'd also be using that quote a lot :-}.

[flexagon]

There's a new book out about willpower that looks at least plausibly interesting, based on this review:

http://unclutterer.com/2011/09/20/book-review-willpower

It's hard to say how I feel about this topic. I've done a lot of thinking about it, and although people always say I have willpower & self-discipline, I'm not sure I know what those mean. When I kind of don't feel like doing something, I think about how I'll feel later after not doing it (or doing it), and I make the choice I think will maximize how good I feel. Does anyone do differently? Does it all come down to how heavily a person weights expected far-future versus near-future good feelings? (If so, that removes a lot of the moralistic weight a lot of these discussions seem to have.)

[randysmith]

When I kind of don't feel like doing something, I think about how I'll feel later after not doing it (or doing it), and I make the choice I think will maximize how good I feel. Does anyone do differently? Does it all come down to how heavily a person weights expected far-future versus near-future good feelings?

I do think it comes down to how able a person is to be present to the perception of how they'll feel later after doing it or not doing it. I believe I've seen studies indicating that this is correlated with willpower (i.e. you can get some changes in measured willpower by asking people to focus on the future or the present).

That doesn't remove the moralistic weight for me, though :-J.

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I was born on a Sunday.

I really like the last thing you've listed: "The long run is composed of short runs." That makes me very happy indeed!

[apfelsingail.livejournal.com]

Dammit, was ANYONE born on a Saturday? I got a Friday.