I sometimes wonder what effect solving the question of Bessler's wheel would have on me. Whether I found the solution or someone else did, a large part of my mental activity would be no longer be required and I would probably set off on some other quest just to occupy my inner self. The reason seems to be related to the pleasure we get from successfully solving a problem, whether it be playing computer games, or playing patience or doing crosswords. The act of solving the problem is more enjoyable than simply being given the answer.
As an example consider this riddle:-
A prisoner is put in a room with 2 doors. 1 door leads to freedom, the other to exececution.
Next to the doors are 2 guards. One of the guards always lies, the other always tells the truth. The prisoner is allowed to ask one of the guards one question to figure out what door leads where. What does he ask?
Everyone wants to work out the answer themselves and are reluctant to give up until frustration overwhelms them and they have to ask for the answer. In our case, of course we can't ask anyone for the solution until someone solves it first - or one of us does. The answer to the above riddle is logical and can be arrived at with some simple trial and error, but sometimes it bursts upon you as insight, and you don't even know how you got it so quickly. That kind of revelation is a familiar experience to all of us who seek the solution to Bessler's wheel. (I'll give the answer to the riddle lower down.)
Unfortunately many of these revelations crumble to dust in the cold light of day, but the whole project is a learning process and even though we seem to be stuck in a kind of writer's block and we have run out of ideas, we can still triumph incrementally as we proceed. So each time our designs fail it is something additional that we learned about the problem and it can be regarded as a triumph no matter how small and it is a tiny step towards the solution. Of course it helps if you are an incurable optimist and enjoy the search for a unique design.
My own experience has been a mixture of frustration and excitement with the occasional disappointment. But I also tend to procrastinate and that is an annoyance that appears easy to solve. But to the millions of people who experience chronic procrastination, it can be discouraging when they are told, consciously or subconsciously:
1. It's their fault.
2. They need to stop complaining and "Just do it."
3. They are lazy or immature.
For the vast majority of chronic procrastinators, these statements are simply untrue. Almost all who suffer from this condition wish that they were productive. They have dreams and aspirations, goals and ambitions, that are destroyed by a force that is out of their control. Telling them to "just do it" or that they are lazy or undisciplined does not help.
Procrastination of this kind is a disorder, similar to obsessive compulsive disorder or a distortion of body image. Just as you cannot "blame" a person with OCD for their obsessive behavior, and tell them just to "cut it out," most techniques of curing procrastination do not work, since they amount to nothing more than simple advice: prioritize, then do it.
I find that if I need to make a simple choice such as 'shall I mow the lawn, or work on my wheel', the temptation is to go for the more rewarding choice. So mowing the lawn is something that needs doing and provides an immediate reward, whereas working on the wheel, although capable of producing a huge reward won't be doing that so quickly. There is also an element of psychology involved which suggests to your subconscious that leaving the wheel for another day, might delay the disappointment you may get from another failure!
So, the majority of procrastinators have these factors in common:
1. Fear of failure.
As an example consider this riddle:-
A prisoner is put in a room with 2 doors. 1 door leads to freedom, the other to exececution.
Next to the doors are 2 guards. One of the guards always lies, the other always tells the truth. The prisoner is allowed to ask one of the guards one question to figure out what door leads where. What does he ask?
Everyone wants to work out the answer themselves and are reluctant to give up until frustration overwhelms them and they have to ask for the answer. In our case, of course we can't ask anyone for the solution until someone solves it first - or one of us does. The answer to the above riddle is logical and can be arrived at with some simple trial and error, but sometimes it bursts upon you as insight, and you don't even know how you got it so quickly. That kind of revelation is a familiar experience to all of us who seek the solution to Bessler's wheel. (I'll give the answer to the riddle lower down.)
Unfortunately many of these revelations crumble to dust in the cold light of day, but the whole project is a learning process and even though we seem to be stuck in a kind of writer's block and we have run out of ideas, we can still triumph incrementally as we proceed. So each time our designs fail it is something additional that we learned about the problem and it can be regarded as a triumph no matter how small and it is a tiny step towards the solution. Of course it helps if you are an incurable optimist and enjoy the search for a unique design.
My own experience has been a mixture of frustration and excitement with the occasional disappointment. But I also tend to procrastinate and that is an annoyance that appears easy to solve. But to the millions of people who experience chronic procrastination, it can be discouraging when they are told, consciously or subconsciously:
1. It's their fault.
2. They need to stop complaining and "Just do it."
3. They are lazy or immature.
For the vast majority of chronic procrastinators, these statements are simply untrue. Almost all who suffer from this condition wish that they were productive. They have dreams and aspirations, goals and ambitions, that are destroyed by a force that is out of their control. Telling them to "just do it" or that they are lazy or undisciplined does not help.
Procrastination of this kind is a disorder, similar to obsessive compulsive disorder or a distortion of body image. Just as you cannot "blame" a person with OCD for their obsessive behavior, and tell them just to "cut it out," most techniques of curing procrastination do not work, since they amount to nothing more than simple advice: prioritize, then do it.
I find that if I need to make a simple choice such as 'shall I mow the lawn, or work on my wheel', the temptation is to go for the more rewarding choice. So mowing the lawn is something that needs doing and provides an immediate reward, whereas working on the wheel, although capable of producing a huge reward won't be doing that so quickly. There is also an element of psychology involved which suggests to your subconscious that leaving the wheel for another day, might delay the disappointment you may get from another failure!
So, the majority of procrastinators have these factors in common:
1. Fear of failure.
2. Frequent and temporary repression of their responsibilities, allowing them to focus instead on tasks which do not make them afraid, i.e mowing the lawn!
3. Self-conflict. Procrastinators have the belief, common in childhood, that all pleasure comes from leisure, from these "lack of responsibility tasks," while at the same time believing that it would be best if they produced and achieved at their highest standard.
With thanks to various web sites and in particular http://chronicprocrastination.org/
3. Self-conflict. Procrastinators have the belief, common in childhood, that all pleasure comes from leisure, from these "lack of responsibility tasks," while at the same time believing that it would be best if they produced and achieved at their highest standard.
With thanks to various web sites and in particular http://chronicprocrastination.org/
And the answer is, "If you were the other guard, which door would you say leads to freedom?"
They will both point towards the door that leads to an execution, so you pick the other one.
How?
The guard that always tells the truth, will be truthful/honest and say what the guard that always lies would have said, so he will point towards the execution door (that would be the answer of the "dishonest" guard).
The guard that always lies, will lie this time as well, and won't answer what the other guard would answer, so he would also point towards the execution door (that wouldn't be the answer of the "honest" guard, and hence a lie).
JC
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