![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
so today i'm wondering why i tend to need a state of crisis in order to get my work done. it seems my brain needs to feel as if something major is at stake (like my reputation or an important deadline that will be missed) before the gears catch. how can i get over this? i need to be making regular progress...none of this fits and starts crap.
i have also been thinking a lot about intellectual work in general--trying to stay politically engaged and active but not letting that stuff "eat" the time i need for my academic work, and how to make my work *do* something in the world. of course, that raises the question of why we all want our work to "*do* something in the world" at all. almost anyone you ask will say that they want to "make a difference" in some way, whether politically, scientifically, technologically, socially, economically, etc. is this really motivated by a desire to have a positive effect on the world (and how do you define/recognize whether or not your effect is positive)? or is it actually more about feeling important/necessary, or enjoying a degree of fame, wealth, security, comfort, freedom, etc.? and...does someone's motivation matter? if so, how/why?
i have also been thinking a lot about intellectual work in general--trying to stay politically engaged and active but not letting that stuff "eat" the time i need for my academic work, and how to make my work *do* something in the world. of course, that raises the question of why we all want our work to "*do* something in the world" at all. almost anyone you ask will say that they want to "make a difference" in some way, whether politically, scientifically, technologically, socially, economically, etc. is this really motivated by a desire to have a positive effect on the world (and how do you define/recognize whether or not your effect is positive)? or is it actually more about feeling important/necessary, or enjoying a degree of fame, wealth, security, comfort, freedom, etc.? and...does someone's motivation matter? if so, how/why?
