Hello,
This is more of an observation rather a theory. The phenomena I am talking about is when group of friends are together, and they see something fun on youtube or on tv or even just talk about it. Sometimes, in fact most of the times, the guys get excited about doing something similar to what they saw/discussed and they start saying, “Let’s do it” and “its easy, we can do that”.
Now from my observations around 96% of the times they never do it. Now i bet many has noticed this behavior as well, so let’s take it one more step and see why people do that in the first place.
Before i continue, you have to realize that all what i write here is from my own logic and reason, not based on facts unless clearly stated so. You are allowed to do the same in the comments section
Anyway, some may say those people like to lie just to get others excited, or to make the reputation that they r cool. i disagree with this statement, at least most of the time it is not true. I see that behavior in people who actually believe, in that moment, that they can do what they r saying they are going to do. The main flaw is that they can’t push themselves to actually do it later on. They decide to do it when they are in excited mood which increases motivation multiple folds, but after an hour or a day, this extra motivation dies, and usually no one pushes the group hard enough to instill the motivation to do that project.
The sad part is those people actually think that they will do the thing they are saying they will do. and usually the project is very doable, like it doesn’t need special skills or special equipment, usually it is simple stupid video or small sketch. The skill those people lack is the ability to anticipate motivation in different moods and different times. Meaning, the ability to accurately estimate the motivation you will have the next day even though currently you are in high motivational mood (excited). This is in no way as easy as it sounds. The proof that this is hard is that many many people don’t do it. When u are excited, things will sound easier than they are, and you will feel more energetic than you actually are.
Now i am reluctant in how to solve this phenomenon, do we solve it by sharpening our leadership and motivational skills so we can actually motivate the group after a day or so from deciding of doing the project, or should we correctly recognize that this project will take more work than we usually do and give up?
The second choice is definitely easier to do, and when you master it you start feeling that you actually know yourself by knowing your own limitations. Being able to see things in your own eyes but in a different mood is actually a very useful skill, because it is the same skill which can be used to see things from other people’s point of view (in our case the other people is yourself in a different mood, that qualifies as different people). In general, the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes is the skill you need for solution #2. Of course I don’t have to explain why being able to see yourself in other people’s shoes is important, right? Ok, it is important because first, you can avoid hurting people you care about, second you can be a good and fair judge. I won’t go into details in this
Another important example of this phenomenon: when you have a final test after 3 weeks, and if you didn’t study for 2 weeks or studied very minimally, let’s say 10%, then at the beginning of the third week (last one before the test) you feel guilty so you tell yourself, “if I studied hard for the next week, I can actually finish the material pretty well”. I BET YOU DID THAT AT ONE POINT AS WELL. Anyway, if we look at this logically, if someone didn’t do any work for 2 weeks, i bet my money that in the last week his work CAN only increase little bit but it can’t go from 10% to 150%. I recall my friends in the senior year of high school. ALMOST EVERYONE had that idea, including me, and ALMOST EVERYONE failed to successfully implement it. Think about it logically, if someone told you it took him 3 hours to read a book, if you to anticipate how long it will take him to read the next book, how much would you guess!
This is related to our theory because at the beginning of the last week, you feel extra motivation (guilty conscious) and at that point you fail to put urself in the (normal mood) shoes, so you think can you study hard for the next week, but as soon as this extra motivation goes away, you fail to do so.
Since we are talking about projects which we probably won’t do, let’s build our own foosball table when I come to Jordan. It should be relatively simple to do ( i don’t care if it wasn’t completely balanced). I am coming soon, I will try to make a draft of the design beforehand. I only need a volunteer to give away a space to use as a workshop, preferably with tools. If there is no space, we would do it at some roof.
That’s it, share your opinions
p.s: I am serious about the foosball project