What gets you out of bed in the morning? | Andrew Platt | TEDxYantai Huasheng Intl School

Key Concepts

• External Motivation: Driven by external rewards or avoidance of punishment (e.g., Pigy).
• Internal Motivation: Driven by personal goals, aspirations, and desires (e.g., Jay Gatsby).
• Adversity: Inevitable challenges and difficulties in life.
• Determination/Grit/Perseverance: The ability to overcome adversity and continue pursuing goals.
• Willpower: The raw capacity to want and act.
• Discipline: The force that shapes and directs willpower.
• Ambition: A goal-oriented drive, often focused on personal achievement.
• Passion: An intense desire or enthusiasm for something, not necessarily tied to personal gain.
• Wisdom: The ability to see things from multiple perspectives and understand the interconnectedness of events.

The Anatomy of Determination and its Evolution

This section explores the fundamental drivers of human action, contrasting external and internal motivations with a focus on the concept of determination.

External vs. Internal Motivation: Literary Examples

• Pigy (from Trippy Taka's escorts from Cog, Journey West): Represents extreme external motivation, characterized by laziness, gluttony, and a lack of internal drive. He sleeps through battles due to a general unwillingness to engage, highlighting the negative consequences of being solely driven by pleasure and avoiding discomfort.
• Jay Gatsby (from The Great Gatsby): Embodies extreme internal motivation, driven by ambitious goals (social approval, love) and a relentless pursuit of them. However, his flaws and the extreme measures he takes lead to a tragic end, illustrating the potential downsides of unchecked ambition.

The speaker argues that both Pigy and Gatsby represent one-dimensional characters whose extreme approaches to motivation lead to negative outcomes. Human beings are more complex and require a more nuanced understanding of what drives them.

The Importance of Determination and Adversity

• Adversity as a Catalyst: The speaker posits that adversity is essential for personal growth and self-discovery. Without challenges, life can be boring and uneventful.
  • Example: The prince in Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper before switching places, and Siddhartha (the Buddha) in his palace, lived lives of ease but lacked the experiences that shape character.
• Determination as the Anvil: Determination is presented as the crucial element that allows individuals to withstand and overcome adversity. It's the "secret sauce" that helps people persevere.
  • Analogous Terms: Grit, hutzba, drive, perseverance, stubbornness.
  • Core Idea: An unwillingness to give up on oneself, a "never say die" attitude.
  • Examples: Joseph (with his technicolor dream coat), Julius Caesar (captive to pirates), Captain Jack Sparrow, Andrew Carnegie, Xenophon, the Long Marchers, Washington Crossing the Delaware, Jack Ma, Bill Gates. These individuals are characterized by their refusal to stop despite immense challenges.

Paul Graham's Model of Determination

Paul Graham's essay "The Anatomy of Determination" is introduced as a foundational concept. Graham argues that determination is the most important predictor of success because it helps overcome inevitable adversity. He defines determination as:

Determination = Willfulness + Discipline + Ambition

• Willfulness (Willpower): The raw material of determination, the initial "want" and the drive to act.
  • Example: Wanting a toy across the room and reaching for it.
• Discipline: The force that shapes and directs willpower, involving systems and follow-through.
  • Example: Practicing to improve a skill, learning to write or do math.
• Ambition: A distant, far-off desire that requires planning and formulation of goals. It is differentiated from will by its relative distance and challenge.
  • Example: Casting one's will towards a long-term goal and planning its accomplishment.

Critiquing and Refining Graham's Model

The speaker agrees with Graham's emphasis on willpower and discipline but proposes a modification to the role of ambition.

• Critique of Ambition: While not inherently evil, ambition is often hyper-focused on personal achievement and can lead to negative outcomes, as seen in literary villains like Gatsby, Captain Ahab, and Macbeth. Redemption often comes from renouncing ambition.
• Proposed Replacement: Passion: The speaker suggests replacing "ambition" with "passion," defined as an intense desire or enthusiasm for something.
  • Benefits of Passion:
    • Guiding Force: Like ambition, passion directs action.
    • Less Self-Centered: Passion can be directed towards pursuits that are not solely for personal gain (e.g., understanding music, helping friends).
    • More Enjoyable: Passion leads to a more enjoyable and less "mean, brooding, angry" approach to life compared to ambition.
• Proposed Replacement: Perseverance: The speaker also suggests replacing "determination" with "perseverance" to better reflect the ongoing nature of overcoming challenges.

The Role of Adversity in Developing Perseverance and Wisdom

Drawing from the Book of James, the speaker explains how adversity contributes to perseverance and wisdom.

• James's Teaching: "Consider difficulties to be joy because they develop perseverance, which in turn helps us to be mature and wise."
• Understanding "Joy" in Adversity: The "win" is not the adversity itself, but the resulting perseverance and the development of maturity and wisdom.
• Wisdom as Perspective: Wisdom is the ability to see things from multiple perspectives. Adversity, though difficult, helps develop this perspective by revealing that "every rose has its thorns."
  • Example: The Chinese fable of the old man who loses a horse, which leads to a series of events that ultimately save his son's life. The old man's wisdom lies in acknowledging the unpredictable nature of life and the interconnectedness of events.

The Interplay of Willpower, Passion, and Discipline

This section uses a Venn diagram to illustrate how the three core components (willpower, passion, and discipline) interact and what happens when one or more are absent.

Components in Isolation: Deficiencies

• Willpower Alone: Leads to hedonism, addiction, crime, and a lack of self-control. This is the "quintessential Pigy" – a slave to immediate desires.
• Discipline Alone: Embodied by robotic individuals focused solely on systems and perpetuating them, lacking inspiration or personal drive. Examples include Phileas Fogg and Sherlock Holmes (portrayed as highly systematic).
• Passion Alone: Results in groundless dreams and a lack of substance. This is the "manic pixie dream girl" or someone disconnected from reality, with "both feet in the air." It's all potential with no execution.

Combinations of Two Components: Strengths and Weaknesses

• Discipline + Passion = Enthusiasm:
  • Description: Individuals interested in many things, but they back off when challenges arise due to a lack of willpower. They are "dillettantes" or "weekend warriors."
  • Prescription: Asserting willpower ("I'm going to do this") can kickstart perseverance.
• Discipline + Willpower = Studiousness:
  • Description: Model students who get good marks but don't stand out. They are dependable but lack inspiration. They become "cogs in the machine."
  • Prescription: Seek inspiration, wonder, and passion. Find something to love and shine.
• Willpower + Passion = Shooting Stars:
  • Description: People full of ideas and drive who attract others. They may achieve initial success but lack discipline to sustain it. They are "one-hit wonders" who "crash and burn."
  • Prescription: Bring structure and organization to their endeavors for ongoing success.

The Sweet Spot: Perseverance through Harmony

• All Three in Harmony (Willpower + Discipline + Passion): This combination, tempered by adversity, leads to long-suffering, patient-driven perseverance, which ultimately results in wisdom.
• Power to Get Out of Bed: This harmonious state has the power to motivate individuals to get out of bed every morning, regardless of the circumstances.
  • Wisdom's Role:
    • When willpower is challenged by circumstances: Wisdom reminds us that "this too shall pass" and suggests practical steps like a hot shower and coffee.
    • When dreams seem dead: Wisdom reminds us of infinite possibilities and the need to seek new dreams, often away from the comfort of bed.
    • When efforts fail: Wisdom affirms the soundness of the dream and the individual's suitability, encouraging them to "try again" and return to the drawing board.

Conclusion: The Value of Perseverance and Wisdom

The speaker concludes by emphasizing that while most days don't require extraordinary motivation, there are days when getting out of bed is a struggle. In these moments, perseverance and wisdom are crucial.

• Actionable Insight: Keep going, stay strong, and believe that brighter days are coming.
• Core Message: With perseverance, anyone can find a good reason to get up and move forward, regardless of their background or current situation. This ability to find a reason to act is the definition of wisdom.