I'm trying to figure out a principle or some understanding about the concept of "wanting to want."

A large part of self-help is simply empowerment. Self-help fans seems to be into getting pumped up to do something they already intend to do. Why do we need that? When we "psych" ourselves up, what we're doing is essentially intensifying our desire, thereby allowing us to milk the benefits of being more motivated.

But that seems to have an inherent contradiction that I haven't completely grasped yet. If you say, "Well, I want to win, so I'm going to want it more, to make it more likely to win," then... ? not sure actually, seems kind of weird.

But I think unraveling the paradox may tell us something about the way humans effect change in themselves.