I am currently reading the book The Upside of Irrationality. I highly recommend reading it as it is full of examples of what motivates people. I was interested in reading this book mostly because I wished to understand what motivated me and why I do some of the things I do. It helped to better understand me.
In one particular chapter the author talks about ownership of work that we create. Through a series of experiments the author and his fellow researchers derived interesting results.
Greater Labor, Greater Love
The more effort we put into creating or acquiring something the more we tend to feel ownership and gain more satisfaction out of it. We get more satisfaction out of cooking and eating vegetables that we grew ourselves than vegetables that we bought at the grocery store. We value furniture that we assembled ourselves than furniture that we purchased at a store.
We tend to value the soft toy that we made ourselves more than the soft toy we purchased elsewhere.
Is the Effort Really Worth It?
In making something should we spend so much of your own time doing a sloppy job of it when you can get someone else better than you to do the same thing. Are you really that good at home improvement? Must you try to
Should you really try to build that cabinet on your own? Must you spend your own money and time to acquire tools and the material necessary and then make a few mistakes with the wood.
Greater Labor, Greater Love, Greater Failure?
Could it be that this fallacy of seeking out the convoluted and less effective path is a hurdle in our ability to achieve. Could it be in our way to get the most out of life? Is it possible that the shoe rack you made yourself breaks in a few months after which you end up spending money on a brand new shoe rack using money that you could have been spent on something else more valuable?
What would I do: I would rather be working. I’d rather be fragging on a TF2 server. I’d rather be working on a new pet project. In most cases I would much rather be doing something else. I value my time a lot.
Longterm Ownership Satisfaction
That shoe rack your late father made will serve constantly remind you of him fondly. That cabinet you made yourself reminds you of a young ambitious you who wouldn’t give up at the first obstacle.
You must ask yourself: Is it really worth it? It depends on what you’re making.
I don’t think I will ever make my own vegetables. It’s not worth it. There is no long term satisfaction. It’s just for that one moment after I wash my hands. I may not even make my own juice. It won’t be as good as a juice I can buy. I will however make my own furniture some day. I will make my own software – which I do already.
You Love What You Finish
The author points out that we tend to own and love the objects that we made if we made them ourselves and finish them. But if we are unable to finish them we tend to not have as much ownership towards the object or project as we do for projects we finish.
To Get Satisfaction, Finish It First, Perfect It Later
The WP Autoresponder project I worked on was an unending series of tasks until one day I realized that I was adding more and more features as I was finishing them. I was trapping myself in the project. I finally put the foot down and got myself to release it on the WordPress.org repository.
As a creator of art or software you tend to want to perfect something before you release it. It is very possible that you will lose that initial motivation toward that project if you keep at it for a long time. This may not always be possible.
If you are making something physical you may not always have the liberty to add features or extend it further later. In such cases one may get the most out of himself through starting with the end in mind. In whatever you are making there must be a clear ending of what you are making.
We Believe Others Love It Too
The author points out that we love what we make ourselves so much that it changes the way we perceive it. It changes us. It changes the way we look at it and evaluate it. We tend to ignore the flaws and errors.
Get A Second Opinion
I make crappy software. I know that. In some level I just know that the software I make has errors. May be the menu option label I used doesn’t mean what I think it means. May be the procedure to perform some operation is not as obvious to others as I thought it is. I tend to believe that it is.
In the act of creation we cannot help but fall in love with our creation. It is not something we can prevent. It is hardwired into us and you cannot overcome it by willing it. Getting a second opinion from an unbiased knowledgeable person is essential for being able to create high quality work as a creator.
What say you reader? Would you make your own soy sauce?
