Philosophical Vegan Forum

Consequentialist altruists have a hard job. Rather than devoting their lives to whatever they most enjoy doing, they strife to do what makes the world a better place. However, doing that does not come naturally; our impulses do not want us to be healthy altruists, but fat hedonists. I find myself having trouble with this too; always finding ways to do other things than what I think I should be doing. It's a fundamental problem of life, really. What are your best 'tips and tricks' for being disciplined and motivated, basically doing what you should do rather than what your impulses compel you to do?

On this topic, I like listening to the advice of people who need to have extreme levels of discipline (e.g. marines)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbQh1ZPG5pc

I think the first few minutes of the day sets the tone. If I am a lazy piece of shit who hits the snoozer five times there is a good chance that I will be a lazy piece of shit all day. Put your alarm clock away from your bed and when it rings you get up and stay up.

The trick is finding something you enjoy and that does good, so you really want to get out and do it.

Tobias wrote an article on this a few months ago:
[veganstrategist][/veganstrategist]2016/07/28/finding-your-activist-sweet-spot/

brimstoneSalad wrote:Tobias wrote an article on this a few months ago:
[veganstrategist][/veganstrategist]2016/07/28/finding-your-activist-sweet-spot/

This is a great article! Thanks for sharing.

miniboes wrote: our impulses do not want us to be healthy altruists, but fat hedonists.

Some people derive joy from making others happy. However, whether this is true altruism or due to the response they get from making others happy is debatable. Basically making others feels good "gets them off", so there is an argument to be made that this is in fact a selfish behavior.

miniboes wrote: I find myself having trouble with this too; always finding ways to do other things than what I think I should be doing. It's a fundamental problem of life, really. What are your best 'tips and tricks' for being disciplined and motivated, basically doing what you should do rather than what your impulses compel you to do?

Learn to recognize your impulses (which you already are concerned enough about to question them), and make one positive decision at a time. Any change in thinking or behavior is hard at first, but gets easier each time you go against your base impulse, until you no longer have to pause before making the "correct" decision.