"Reasoning" what something is for me can yield tricky results, depending on where I'm coming from and how I go about it. If I already know what the answer "should" be and try to argue myself into agreeing with it, I'm likely to find myself stuck in something like contradiction, confusion, lack of motivation, or depression. If I'm really looking (and perhaps most important, willing to be surprised) I usually do come up with a clearer perspective on what I need to be doing -- and even find that it's something I'm willing to do.

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I get around the shoe-shining problem quite handily by (1.) owning hardly any shoes that require shining and (2.) having hardly any interest in occasions that call for shiny shoes.