Plenty depends on your definition of inworkers and outworkers, so here’s mine.

Outworkers aren’t seeking approval or a rubric handed out by someone else to stick blindly by. They’re seeking change in the circumstances of others, whereas inworkers seek changes in their own circumstances.

There.

read the above comment for a response to part of what you said.

I’m not sure that desires are directly important. I think what’s important is the measurement of success (which admittedly leads to certain desires). In other words, if I measure myself against the eight-fold path, I find myself lacking in certain aspects. I’ll find different aspects if I measure myself against a particular christian ethic or a bushido code or even simple popularity. The internet has even given us new measures we can use like the number of friends we have on facebook or the number of hits my blog gets. These are all examples of outworker though patterns.

An inworker has created their own code. And mel is absolutely correct - I think people should be inworkers. That’s what I liked about my definitions compared to Pavlina’s. My definitions yield an answer. If you consciously decide to accept every tenet of a particular external code because it seems right to you (independent of its source) then you’re an inworker.

What it yields, amanda, is satisfaction and success. This is a simple tautology. If you do what you measure as successful, you’ll find yourself to be successful.

So my take home message is choose.

I don’t demand self or others like Pavlina. All I see as important here is self-awareness and a conscious choice.

I don’t think I like helping out of the desire to be a hero. That would be an outworker thing to do. It’s merely that I’ve decided that helping others out is good, but I dislike being used. I’ve decided that my time is valuable and people who superfluously impose on that time are not seen well by me. Hence, they don’t get helped out.

That being said, I still like wasting time with people. This is no big deal. I just hate it when someone thinks they have a right to my time. I dunno - I’m quite the inworker.

Eh - that’s exactly what an inworker would say. You describe the duality, but you philosophically subscribe to one side of it.

Re: Amanda - instigating fear creates a need for a hero. It’s possible to start fires so you can fight them. And firefighting is always wonderfully dramatic.

If I may humbly suggest an answer, though not very orginal. Humans are mortals and as such, have a finite existance. Because we are unable to know what happens after death, we humans strive to “live” past death by becoming something memorable. What makes someone memorable? Two things: being the best at something or mattering a lot to someone. Notice how similar these are to the two forms of motivation. The first is the internal motivation, and the second is the external motivated.

It is now easy to draw this end goal of being remembered to Pavlina’s conclusion. Remember Boris’s summary of this conclusion: both the externally motivated and the internally motivated eventually “are maximally fulfilling thier goals at same point.” In order to be remembered for being the best at something, other people must be aware that you are the best and whatever you are the best at must matter to them. Now to matter to people, one must either need you or fear you. I wont discuss the fear part because it is a fairly direct and terminal discussion. However in order to be needed, one must satisfy a void, one must be a “hero.” And one’s ability to be a “hero” depends on how good one is at things. If one is the best at everything, one may be the “hero” most often, ensuring the preservation of one’s memory. So, you do end up at the same point: one must be the best and matter to others. (Hopefully, my circular logic is followable).

So Boris, I think that you only help your friends at the last minute out of a desire to be the “hero.” By not committing to do something helpful, you are able to come in and “save” others right before disaster. And improving yourself allows you to come in with the ability to “save” people.