not really an answer but i wanted to communicate that the vibe of this question feels off to me because: surely one’s criteria on what to be up to are/[should be] rich and developing. that is, i think things are more like: currently i have some projects i’m working on and other things i’m up to, and then later i’d maybe decide to work on some new projects and be up to some new things, and i’d expect to encounter many choices on the way (in particular, having to do with whom to become) that i’d want to think about in part as they come up. should i study A or B? should i start job X? should i 2x my neuron count using such and such a future method? these questions call for a bunch of thought (of the kind given to them in usual circumstances, say), and i would usually not want to be making these decisions according to any criterion i could articulate ahead of time (though it could be helpful to tentatively state some general principles like “i should be learning” and “i shouldn’t do psychedelics”, but these obviously aren’t supposed to add up to some ultimate self-contained criterion on a good life)
not really an answer but i wanted to communicate that the vibe of this question feels off to me because: surely one’s criteria on what to be up to are/[should be] rich and developing. that is, i think things are more like: currently i have some projects i’m working on and other things i’m up to, and then later i’d maybe decide to work on some new projects and be up to some new things, and i’d expect to encounter many choices on the way (in particular, having to do with whom to become) that i’d want to think about in part as they come up. should i study A or B? should i start job X? should i 2x my neuron count using such and such a future method? these questions call for a bunch of thought (of the kind given to them in usual circumstances, say), and i would usually not want to be making these decisions according to any criterion i could articulate ahead of time (though it could be helpful to tentatively state some general principles like “i should be learning” and “i shouldn’t do psychedelics”, but these obviously aren’t supposed to add up to some ultimate self-contained criterion on a good life)
My motivation w/ the question is more to predict self-conceptions than prescribe them.
I agree that “one’s criteria on what to be up to are… rich and developing.” More fun that way.