Should You Even Try to Motivate Yourself? | Scott H Young

• Rational motivation, which reflects our preferences. We're motivated by the opportunities we can notice.
• Biased motivation. We often ignore obvious ways to better our lives because we're short-sighted and lazy. We may be better off boosting our motivation.

We often lie to ourselves about our true motives to save face with other people. We have a hidden logic that fuels our motivations. If we don't feel motivated, we may have reasons we don't consciously understand. If we are hesitant, it may be owing to our options and not our character.

Some theories of motivation claim we're naturally biased. It may happen because we can't consider all the angles. At other times, as the world advance, the usual criteria no longer apply.

There may be only a few exceptional people like Elon Musk because we can't grasp the idea that one person can create wealth or drive progress. We don't notice opportunities and more easily dismiss them.