Something Not To Be Sought Directly, But As An Indirect Reward
In a journal he kept throughout the summer of 1962, the psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote, “by contrast with the direct attack or the direct search for happiness—happiness is an epiphenomenon.” From the Greek prefix epi- (meaning ”upon,” or “in addition to”) and the Greek word phainomenon (meaning “that which is seen” or “that which appears”), an “epiphenomenon” is something that arises as a secondary effect of some process. The steam from a pot of boiling water, the smoke from a fire, the smell drifting from a bakery—these are epiphenomena: side-effects that can’t be directly summoned, but come into existence only as byproducts, wholly dependent on the processes that generate them. Likewise, Maslow writes, “happiness is an epiphenomenon, a byproduct, something not to be sought directly, but as an indirect reward.”
Epiphenomena, byproducts, things that tend to come about as indirect reward—that’s the theme of this SIX at 6…
It Brought Me To A Standstill, Delighted.
On May 8, 1850, after a fully unproductive morning spent working “without much enthusiasm,” the French artist Eugène Delacroix “decided to force” himself to go for a walk. Among other things, Delacroix writes, “I passed two or three magnolias.” He stopped and marveled at them: “I had no idea what a show they made; the really astonishing profusion of enormous flowers with the leaves only just beginning to show, the delicious scent, the ground strewn with fallen petals; it brought me to a standstill, delighted.” Having indirectly summoned this feeling of delight on his walk, back in his studio, Delacroix worked “with much enthusiasm” on a pastel drawing of magnolias. (File next to: Fill Up To Pour Out)
The Project Is You
Asked what he would focus on if he were to teach a writing class, the great essayist Henrik Karlsson said, “Becoming a person who writes well. Writing is not really about having a technical skill set. It’s deeper than that…Figuring out grammar and adverbs or whatever—that is kind of easy. The hard part is working to become a person who can think interesting thoughts.” That is the work he is primarily focused on in his own life. “The project I’m doing,” Henrik said in another interview, “is basically turning myself into a certain type of person who is able to have the thoughts that turn into essays. The work is growing intellectually and emotionally. It’s reading. It’s talking to people. It’s going out into the world and experiencing things. Cultivating the kind of mind that can have interesting thoughts—that’s the real work. And the essays are just the exhaust from that process.”
Man’s Search For Success
Viktor Frankl, the renowned psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, developed a therapeutic technique known as “paradoxical intention.” Based on “the fact that hyper-intention makes impossible what one wishes,” Frankl writes, this approach encourages patients to do the opposite of their hyper-intended goal. A patient who struggles to fall asleep, for instance, would be advised “to try to stay awake as long as possible.” The hyper-intention to stay awake counteracts the “anticipatory anxiety” of not being able to sleep that keeps one awake. Frankl’s own appreciation for this principle was shaped by an unexpected turn in his writing career. Frankl authored dozens of books with the hyper-intention to write something widely impactful. They all fell short of his ambitions and so he eventually gave up that goal. Later, he wrote a book in nine days about his experiences in Nazi concentration camps and some of the psychological techniques that helped him survive. Not thinking much of it, he published it anonymously with the title Man’s Search For Meaning. It went on to sell over 10 million copies in his lifetime and is considered one of the most influential books ever. “Success,” Frankl said of the unexpected impact of Man’s Search for Meaning, “cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as an unintended side-effect…You have to let it happen by not caring about it…[It] is a side-effect or by-product, and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree to which it is made a goal in itself.”
Your Confidence Comes From Your Work
With 1.9 seconds left in overtime of Game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals, Dwyane Wade went to the free throw line. Wade and the Heat were down by 1. The series was tied 2-2. He told Tiger Woods how he prepared to make those high-pressure free throws: “The night before,” Wade said, “I was in the gym at midnight. And I was like, ‘I know games come down to free throws. No matter what happens, it’s going to come down to free throws.’ So I was in the gym and I had my cousin standing next to me, I had him right in my ear talking shit to me. And so the next night, I get in that same situation where I got to make these free throws. And I just went back to last night in the gym. I just went right back to that. I was like, ‘I just hit 200 of these last night. I got this.’” “That’s so good,” Tiger says. “It’s like,” Wade continues, “your confidence comes from your work.” “Correct,” Tiger replies. “You’ve done it over and over,” Wade says. “You’ve seen yourself do it.” “Correct,” Tiger says, “thousands of times.” Filled with the confidence that came as an epiphenomenon, a byproduct, an indirect reward of his work, Wade hit the two free throws. The Heat won 101-100 to take a 3-2 series lead. In Game 6, he had 36 points to help the Heat win the game and their first championship in franchise history. Wade was named NBA Finals MVP.
How Emotions Are Made
For nearly three decades, the neuroscientist Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett has been studying where emotions—calmness, panic, nervousness, and so on—come from. One of her discoveries is that present sensations are a function of past experiences. “In every waking moment,” she writes in How Emotions Are Made, “your brain uses past experience to guide your present sensations.” If you’re at the free-throw line with the game on the line, for instance, and you start to panic—your brain, Dr. Barrett would say, is calling you out: you didn’t put in the work. You didn’t form the past experience needed for your brain to be able to say, as Wade was able to say, “I just hit 200 of these last night. I got this.” Your confidence, your interesting thoughts, your enthusiasm, your success, your present sensations and emotions—these are epiphenomena: side-effects that can’t be directly summoned, but come into existence only as byproducts, wholly dependent on the processes that generate them.