I can attest to the power of "acting" even in private. When I was a teenager, I had incredible difficulties getting myself to study. I was behind in every single class and the stress created a vicious cycle where it became harder and harder to study due to the paralyzing anxiety.
One day I got fed up with that huge pressure / inability to move and said, "Damn, how is this so easy for Anne, or Josh!!! How do they do it?" Then suddenly, "wait... how DO they do it?"
I tried to put myself in the shoes of the best student I knew. He was quite autistic, moved his face and body in unusual ways, but he loved learning and always read the books before term even started. I had a bit of experience with acting, so I adopted his body language, movement patterns, and mindset. "Wow," I thought, "I frigging love learning!!"
I got to work on my math homework, worked with effortless joy for the next hour, and was so weirded out by the experiment that I never repeated it.
(I later overcame my fear of math "myself" thanks to meditation: I realized trying harder didn't work because it only made me tired faster, I had to learn to truly relax—then study became effortless for me.)
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I later learned a technique from Napoleon Hill where you have a big meeting in your imagination with folks whose wisdom and character you admire. In this way you use your "hardware" (brain) to run different OS (mind) using an "emulator" (imagination).
It might sound silly but I'm always amazed at the fresh perspectives I'm able to obtain when I ask "someone smarter" for advice in my imagination. Truly my range of thought is severely limited by the constraints of my own self-concept—it's good to let go of it from time to time and see what else comes up.
This comment got way too long * and I forgot to mention the important thing: most people's attitude will tend towards negative, or at most bland, without constant external "uplifting". Most people's environment isn't very uplifting, but you can create one artificially through inspirational audio. Have something inspirational on in the background every day, while driving, doing the dishes etc.
* “Forgive me this long letter, I hadn't the time to write a shorter one.”
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Most of my "great ideas"* are derivative, ie. frankensteins created by combining pieces other people's work. (The more people like something I made, the more likely it is that it's just a clone of / homage to something I really liked. Take something you love, then take it 1 step further.)
There's a quote I love that goes something like, «If you steal from one person, they will call you “the new so-and-so”, but if you steal from many, they say “oh! How original!”» (Or was it, “good artists copy, great artists steal?” ;)
Still, inspiration by itself will not get you far: * you also have to put in the other “99% perspiration” as well, or you will just end up with dozens of “cute, but whatever” projects. So for me the greatest lesson is (still) to stop relying on inspiration and just do a couple hours of work every day.
“I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at 9 o'clock sharp.” On that note, I really do have to get to work immediately upon waking, or the day is basically lost. I turn off the internet before bed, and turn it on after 2-3 hours of work. Use offline documentation like DevDocs. Major focus boost!
Another weakness is that if I stop working for even a day I basically lose all momentum and will to continue, so I stole this guy's work ethic:
Also, never pander to the audience (Bowie), create primarily for yourself (Paul Graham on language design). My most favorite (most "original") design was something I thought already existed, but couldn't find. I didn't want to make a game, I just wanted to play it, but to my surprise I found that it did not exist. (It too was a simple synthesis of many childhood games, with all the extraneous fluff removed. Which of course brings me to...)
“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but nothing to take away.”
I might clarify that by "effortless" I am referring to a state like the one described in the book Flow, where you get out of your own way so that a challenging activity becomes "frictionless" and most of the movement happens through "momentum" rather than pushing. There's a kind of wonderful threshold where effort starts to energize rather than drain you.
One day I got fed up with that huge pressure / inability to move and said, "Damn, how is this so easy for Anne, or Josh!!! How do they do it?" Then suddenly, "wait... how DO they do it?"
I tried to put myself in the shoes of the best student I knew. He was quite autistic, moved his face and body in unusual ways, but he loved learning and always read the books before term even started. I had a bit of experience with acting, so I adopted his body language, movement patterns, and mindset. "Wow," I thought, "I frigging love learning!!"
I got to work on my math homework, worked with effortless joy for the next hour, and was so weirded out by the experiment that I never repeated it.
(I later overcame my fear of math "myself" thanks to meditation: I realized trying harder didn't work because it only made me tired faster, I had to learn to truly relax—then study became effortless for me.)
--
I later learned a technique from Napoleon Hill where you have a big meeting in your imagination with folks whose wisdom and character you admire. In this way you use your "hardware" (brain) to run different OS (mind) using an "emulator" (imagination).
It might sound silly but I'm always amazed at the fresh perspectives I'm able to obtain when I ask "someone smarter" for advice in my imagination. Truly my range of thought is severely limited by the constraints of my own self-concept—it's good to let go of it from time to time and see what else comes up.