Thanks - this is a really interesting post. The Zen master/drill sergeant characterisation - flaws an all - is helpful, and I love the description of the builder's ruthlessness about unproductive tasks and willingness to do menial work. Looking forward to seeing where you take the blog!
What about the non-ambitious among us who don't want to "build" and just want to get to their next non-building type of inspired state in life? Perhaps that's why they don't see psychologists as often.. For them, the question of "is it worth it" is much simpler - it's probably "can I solve this efficiently enough on talent/skill alone and earn the money needed for my comfortable life?" So in a way, they are the perfect builders, because they just say per builder's mindset "it's not worth it" to a lot of things and live a comfortable life and this doesn't mean that they are not creative/good builders, but their goal is disconnected with the work too (just like your drill & zen people). Yet, they may be better than the "inspired"/connected "builder" type because they just happen to be more talented in a field of play.
And then there are the ambitious ones that burned out and no project is worth it to them anymore because they lost confidence in picking the worthy projects.
I think what I'm getting at is that we have to at least try and tackle the question of "what is a worth/value of things" before tackling the mindset question. Because "problem-solv[ing] like mad until she finds a solution" sounds pretty similar to doing the "white knuckle" thing that drill sergeant mindset does. (especially because the question "what will it take for me to build it" is impossible to answer in an acceptably precise manner most of the time). "is it worth it" and how to answer that questions is what I'd be excited to see being addressed and then problem solving(ie building that we all face) will be a peace of cake (I'm exaggerating).
Idk, Zen priests have traditionally been fairly strict, i.e. waking people by hitting them with a stick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisaku. I think they have a lot more in common with drill sergeants than you would think.
Thanks - this is a really interesting post. The Zen master/drill sergeant characterisation - flaws an all - is helpful, and I love the description of the builder's ruthlessness about unproductive tasks and willingness to do menial work. Looking forward to seeing where you take the blog!
What about the non-ambitious among us who don't want to "build" and just want to get to their next non-building type of inspired state in life? Perhaps that's why they don't see psychologists as often.. For them, the question of "is it worth it" is much simpler - it's probably "can I solve this efficiently enough on talent/skill alone and earn the money needed for my comfortable life?" So in a way, they are the perfect builders, because they just say per builder's mindset "it's not worth it" to a lot of things and live a comfortable life and this doesn't mean that they are not creative/good builders, but their goal is disconnected with the work too (just like your drill & zen people). Yet, they may be better than the "inspired"/connected "builder" type because they just happen to be more talented in a field of play.
And then there are the ambitious ones that burned out and no project is worth it to them anymore because they lost confidence in picking the worthy projects.
I think what I'm getting at is that we have to at least try and tackle the question of "what is a worth/value of things" before tackling the mindset question. Because "problem-solv[ing] like mad until she finds a solution" sounds pretty similar to doing the "white knuckle" thing that drill sergeant mindset does. (especially because the question "what will it take for me to build it" is impossible to answer in an acceptably precise manner most of the time). "is it worth it" and how to answer that questions is what I'd be excited to see being addressed and then problem solving(ie building that we all face) will be a peace of cake (I'm exaggerating).
Idk, Zen priests have traditionally been fairly strict, i.e. waking people by hitting them with a stick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisaku. I think they have a lot more in common with drill sergeants than you would think.