Thank you so much for this answer; I really appreciate the thought that you put into it. I guess the only thing I really have to ask is “how do you incorporate all of this knowledge into your life?” The CFAR handbook recommends practicing one skill at a time for a week (maybe), but that sounds like a really long time for the amount of productivity advice I’ve accumulated over the years.
This is a really good question and unfortunately I don’t have an easy answer. One secret about the CFAR curriculum is that it’s not about the techniques themselves, but about the mindset. I think of this mindset as a combination of “enjoying the feeling of agency” and the scientific method. That is, recognizing that you are capable of taking decisive action rather than just being passively caught in the flow of events, and experimenting to figure out what works for you.
Another thing that really really helps (though it’s certainly not possible for everyone in every situation) is surrounding yourself with people who value this kind of thing as much as you do – people who will support your efforts to become more productive and to figure out what it is that you really want, rather than scoffing at you or acting like you’re weird. If you can’t accomplish this with your IRL social group (which was something I had trouble with in college), I found that it really helped to immerse myself in rationalist writings, especially HPMOR and Minding Our Way.
Bottom line, the whole thing is an ongoing process rather than a series of magic bullets.
Thank you so much for this answer; I really appreciate the thought that you put into it. I guess the only thing I really have to ask is “how do you incorporate all of this knowledge into your life?” The CFAR handbook recommends practicing one skill at a time for a week (maybe), but that sounds like a really long time for the amount of productivity advice I’ve accumulated over the years.
This is a really good question and unfortunately I don’t have an easy answer. One secret about the CFAR curriculum is that it’s not about the techniques themselves, but about the mindset. I think of this mindset as a combination of “enjoying the feeling of agency” and the scientific method. That is, recognizing that you are capable of taking decisive action rather than just being passively caught in the flow of events, and experimenting to figure out what works for you.
Another thing that really really helps (though it’s certainly not possible for everyone in every situation) is surrounding yourself with people who value this kind of thing as much as you do – people who will support your efforts to become more productive and to figure out what it is that you really want, rather than scoffing at you or acting like you’re weird. If you can’t accomplish this with your IRL social group (which was something I had trouble with in college), I found that it really helped to immerse myself in rationalist writings, especially HPMOR and Minding Our Way.
Bottom line, the whole thing is an ongoing process rather than a series of magic bullets.