If you compare what I wrote about the meaning of work to yesterday's post, it appears to be contradictory at first. On the one hand I preach meaningful work and dedication to a life's purpose, one the other hand I tell you not to take it too seriously and calm down instead of being overambitious.
We can look at this paradox from different angles. In a psychological sense the underlying cause for being torn between one's own professional aspirations and enjoying free time is that different parts of your personality come into play. When you are procrastinating, the subconscious does not quite agree with the plans you put on "consciously".
I am not advocating choosing the easy path and submitting to tendencies of laziness at all times. In fact I find it very helpful to use techniques such as visualization to influence the subconscious mind. It helps achieving goals by going with the flow instead of tilting at windmills. Watch this great video (and resign from possible petitions against real social dynamics).
But sometimes we do not see the wood in the trees when we aim towards goals that we have unknowingly already achieved. As an example you betray yourself when working long hours in order get wealthy, hoping that you will have to work less then and be able to spend more time with your loved ones. You can do that today.
So what I am saying is that when the subconscious mind "gets in your way" you need to carefully consider who is right. You might need to motivate yourself more or on the contrary accept that your goals are not what you actually want to go for.
That being said to the psychological aspects, here is a philosophical one: Unless you haven't discovered the purpose of human life, how can you pretend to know what you ought to do? What if the purpose was to find out that there is no purpose?
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