Mental Traps_ The Overthinker's Guide to a Happier Life - Andre Kukla [3]
Of course, we may persevere for values other than pleasure. We may finish a tedious Monopoly game in order not to disappoint a child. We may watch an awful show to the end because it’s our job to write a review. We may sing our way down to the last bottle of beer as an exercise in patience. Joyless perseverance is not always the trap of persistence. But most watchers of awful television shows are not critics, and most singers of “A Hundred Bottles of Beer” are not engaged in spiritual exercises. They’re accomplishing nothing, and not enjoying it.
Incredibly, our culture teaches us to regard persistence as a virtue. We boast that once we are set on a certain course, nothing can dissuade us from following it to the end. We teach our children that it’s a sign of weakness, even of immorality, to leave anything half-done. It’s undeniable that our affairs benefit greatly from the capacity to persevere in the face of adversity. But it’s quite another thing to suggest that this capacity should always and indiscriminately be exercised. A useful distinction may be drawn between persistence and perseverance. We persevere when we steadfastly pursue our aims despite the obstacles that are encountered along the way. But we merely persist if we doggedly carry on in directions that are known to lead to a dead end.
The moral imperative to finish everything we start is deeply ingrained. We find it difficult to abandon even the most transparently vapid enterprises in midstream. The mere act of beginning already binds us to continue to the end, whether or not the original reasons for the activity remain valid. We act as though we were bound by a promise—a promise made to no one but ourselves.
We begin to watch a television show solely for the sake of amusement. But a second motive enters the picture almost immediately: the need to complete what was begun. So long as we remain amused, this need can scarcely be felt. It’s a push in the direction we are already traveling. But its effect is noticed as soon as we lose interest in the show. Were amusement the only motive for watching, we would quit immediately. But the secondary motive to finish what was begun, just because it was begun, makes us persist.
Newton’s laws stipulate that a moving body will continue to move in the same direction until its inertia is overcome by other forces. It seems that we also obey a law of mental inertia. Having begun an activity, we are kept moving in the same psychological direction until we reach the end. As in the case of physical inertia, this impulse may be overcome by other tendencies. Not every Monopoly game is played out to the end. An earthquake, a sudden flood, or a full bladder will put a stop to all but the most stubborn cases of persistence. Even ordinary boredom may be strong enough to make us quit. But we must be more than a little bored, the emergency must be more than a little pressing, our bladder more than a little full. Inertia systematically tips the scale in favor of continuing with the task at hand regardless of the merits of the case. The result is that our decision to quit often comes a little too late.
It takes but a moment’s resolve to launch ourselves upon the vastest enterprises. Once we’re launched, however, we can’t simply cancel our plans with another momentary act of will. We’ve lost the “off” button.
We sometimes try to justify persistence by saying that we don’t wish our investment of time and energy to come to naught. If we quit the game now, our previous efforts