Being too strategic

June 2011

in Self-mastery

I recently read Levels of Action, an awesome post on Less Wrong by tommccabe. Awesome, because he pegged down one of my greatest flaws (and therefore excellent low-hanging fruit).

Level 1 actions are concrete object-level actions: things that directly move the world towards a more desirable state, like taking a typing class to improve your typing skills.

Level 2 actions are meta-level actions: things that you do to improve the effectiveness of your Level 1 actions, like reading reviews on typing software before picking which one to use. Pick the best one, and you will more effectively achieve your goal of learning to type fast.

Level 3 actions are meta-meta-level actions: things that you do to improve the effectiveness of your Level 2 actions, like reading books on the best methods of decision-making.

Level 4 actions are meta-meta-meta-level actions, etc. etc.

The great thing about Level 2 and higher actions is that they compound the effectiveness of your Level 1 actions. Spending 30 minutes to pick out the best language learning software (Level 2) could save you week or months of time spent trying to improve your proficiency in the language. Likewise, having a good method handy for deciding how to find the best learning method, like using language software versus living in a country for a few months without English, could save you years of time. Level 3 actions determine what methods you use to make decisions (Level 2) to determine your actions (Level 1).

For example:

“Engineering technology that helps improve people’s productivity is then a Level 2 action. Doing science that helps with engineering is then a Level 3 action (meta-meta), and doing math that helps with science is a Level 4 action (meta-meta-meta).”

Many people do not spend time on higher-level actions, and stick with the bottom level, because we are not good at being strategic.

The opposite problem also exists, and here is precisely my problem. Some people recognize the value in Level 2 and higher thinking—I can’t stand doing things without knowing why I’m doing it a certain way and whether there are better ways. The problem is that some people—like me—end up worshiping the higher levels, without doing anything at Level 1. But, it doesn’t matter how effective your higher levels are, if they are never pulled down to earth and use to do stuff. Efficiency x 0 = 0.

The risk is that we spend too much time trying to be perfectly strategic without every doing anything.

He further says:

“How should we counter this, while still getting the benefits of the higher levels? One suggestion that gets talked about a lot is simply to always do something directly useful – do something instead of nothing, which is the first step towards accomplishing any goal. […] It is, of course, also important to choose effective actions, in addition to simply choosing to act.”

In other words, just get out there and do stuff, while still thinking about how to be effective, but not only thinking about effectiveness.

This is, unfortunately, a huge issue of mine. Going out and doing stuff without absolute certainty of the effictiveness or worth of the actions is something I naturally avoid. And in retrospect, this is likely more than anything else what has stopped me from achieving all the things I’ve wanted to achieve by now. Far too much time has been spend figuring out the best way to do it, and as a result doing nothing.

So if you never think about how to be strategic, I highly recommend you start trying. And if you’re like me and tend to only think about being stragetic, then try to stop thinking about it so much and go do something.

The desire to change

June 2011

in Foundation

Human are complicated animals. We are the product of an complex evolutionary history. We are bombarded with social memes and expectations our entire lives. We are the product of our parents and society and community and belief systems. And we are full of flaws.

One thing that I’m certain about, though, is that people can change. Who and what you are is not set in stone or predetermined or defined by some ultimate plan. Yes, your history can be a very good indicator of your future. If you’ve always been a horrible procrastinator, chances are you will stay that way unless you get lucky, or unless you put some effort into changing.

Of course, it’s impossible to be “perfect.” Striving to become perfect is pointless. But striving to constantly move closer and closer to being perfect (however you define it) is possible. Self-improvement, or self-help, or growth, or whaterver you want to call it, is a process, not a final destination. There are goals along the way, which are destinations, but as a whole there is no finish line.

So yes, you can improve, and the sooner you accept that and stop making excuses, the sooner it can start to happen. People will never try to change themselves unless they first realize that they can, and secondly have a reason to try.

Do you have a general desire to become stronger? Do you have something to protect? Is there a cause or an issue or an ambitious goal that drives you? If so, improving yourself will likely play a huge role in helping you accomplish what you set out to do. It is not selfish to aim for self-improvement, especially if that improvement is to help you do something like cure cancer or eliminate poverty!

Life is the present moment. What matters matters now. That’s not to say that planning isn’t important. Living only in the present and caring nothing for tomorrow isn’t the wisest if you care about ensuring you have food to eat and baisc shelter, among other things. Also, you can’t change everything about yourself overnight. Our machinery is just too complicated to do that. So you need to make plans for the future and act them out in the present.

The question, then, is what things do you want to be different and why? What things are a certain way right now that you would change right now if you could?

Write them down, figure out how to change them, make a plan, and then just fucking do it.

Clarity as a processes, not a goal

June 2011

in Foundation

Clarity is something that I strive for, but more as a process than as an end goal. There is no Absolute Clarity and no ‘finish line’, there are only incremental steps of improvement.

By ‘clarity’ I mean the emotional state that comes from your deep awareness of reality—the accuracy of your beliefs, the depth of your understanding, your awareness of uncertainty, your ability to understand problems and solve them, your skill in the art of rationality, your level of self-awareness.

It doesn’t mean you have all the answers, but it does mean you know where you have unanswered questions.

It’s like personal development. There is no ‘perfect you’ to reach. Personal development is all about small incremental changes to yourself that bring you closer to what you want to be, but there is no point where you say, “Aha! Finally here! Done!” Personal development is an ongoing processes; if you think you’re done you probably have a lot of work to do.

Likewise, science increases our knowledge of the world, rationality helps us to be less wrong, exercise increases our fitness.  Clarity improves our awareness of reality.

There are certainly goals along the way, like having a thorough grasp of your own worldview, but it’s important to remember that we are never finished—clarity is a lifelong processes.

Alternative words could be ‘awareness’ or ‘understanding’, and I have no problem with them, the word ‘clarity’ just sits well with me.

Recognizing when you procrastinate

May 2011

in Self-awareness

Many of the methods for defeating procrastination are difficult to use if you don’t recognize when you are procrastinating, both though introspection of your past, and in the moment. This seems to me like an extremely important procrastination meta-skill.

For example, maybe I believe the reason I never floss my teeth is because I wrongly perceive that it has low value—and so I constantly remind myself how glad I’ll be in 40 years that I flossed regularly, yet still not do it—when the real problem is very high impulsiveness, especially when I’m tired. While using a value-increasing technique may help, if the core problem is impulsiveness then I won’t be taking the most effective actions.

It is very difficult to say, “Next time I’m being distracted by Reddit I’ll refocus myself, review my goals, and work on what’s important.” This is because what’s causing you to procrastinate (impulsiveness, low-valued tasks, whatever) is often the very thing preventing you from using your head and realizing that you’re not doing what you should be doing in the first place!

So there are two problems: incorrectly diagnosing the source of the procrastination, and being unable to initiate a ‘fix’ to the problem in real-time because you’re not even aware that it’s happening.

Self-assessment

The only way I can think of to catch procrastination when it happens is to periodically assess your procrastinating tendencies. Then, using the Procrastination Equation from Piers Steel that I mentioned recently, categorize your sources of procrastination as falling under Expectancy, Value, Impulsiveness, and Delay. (A source can be from more than one category at once.) Having a breakdown like this will help you search for low-hanging fruit and then plan things in advance that will improve your procrastination.

Think about the clues that tell you that’s what you’re doing: for example, a nagging voice in your head, a visual image of what you are avoiding or the consequences of not doing it, physical ailments (stomach tightness, headaches, muscle tension), inability to concentrate, inability to enjoy what you are doing. ((http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/procrastination.html))

Procrastination can be hard to catch, especially if you’re using ‘busywork’ to put off doing what really needs to be done. Browsing the internet or watching TV for 10 hours is pretty obvious, but cleaning the dishes rather than starting on that hard project is not always so obvious, because you are doing work. And not to say that this busywork isn’t important, there’s just a good chance it’s not the most important thing to be working on, all the time.

Here is my latest assessment of my procrastination sources:

In my case, high Impulsiveness seems to be the most common problem, followed by low Value, then low Expectancy, and finally high Delay.

Plan Ahead

Oh how ironic it would be to get this far and then stop, by being distracted by something ‘more important’ or Reddit or Digg or forgetting the value in reducing how much you procrastinate.

After assessing yourself, come up with *concrete actions* you can do to help reduce procrastination. Otherwise, what was the point?

I’m still working out exactly what I should do, particularly for my impusliveness. I’ll be posting again on that soon. (I’m not procrastinating, I swear!)

Reassess

Finally, your first self-assessment might be wrong. I may have a huge problem with Expectancy without even realizing it. So, reassessment is key. I’m not at this point yet, but within a few weeks I plan to assess how well the techniques I use have worked. Expect a future update.

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