I’m looking through some of the posts tagged Practical. I notice that a lot of them, especially the older ones, seem overoptimistic in similar ways. Here are a few of my particular thoughts:
Daily interventions need to be usable by busy, tired zombies. Or else they will only be usable by people who already have well-balanced lives (or people with hypomania or something).
Closely related, sometimes people omit cost-benefit analysis entirely, as if their practical intervention pays for itself immediately. Even when an analysis is included, I think it often underrates trivial inconveniences and willpower costs. Some of these things sound so easy and simple, and yet if I’m tired after a day of work, it can feel like a major imposition to defy my automatic, low-effort habits. And it’s not just me, when I see the people around me trying out new life hacks, I can often feel the resentment radiating off of them that they have to spend a week’s worth of their discretionary willpower on a small expected gain.
I perceive some complacency about resource budgeting, specifically around resource sinks that are optimized against you. It is my guess that if you show someone a way to save time on their chores, a lot of those savings will go toward mindless scrolling.
Two and a half weeks is not long enough for you to triumphantly declare that your clever life-hack has permanently upgraded your life. Two and a half years probably is. Experience tells me that biological & behavioral set points are real, and it takes more than a single-sentence summary to convince me that you’ve permanently altered or outpaced yours.
I give special praise to those doing serious experimentation with followups. I’ll single out Trivial Inconvenience Day and Sabbath.
I’m looking through some of the posts tagged Practical. I notice that a lot of them, especially the older ones, seem overoptimistic in similar ways. Here are a few of my particular thoughts:
Daily interventions need to be usable by busy, tired zombies. Or else they will only be usable by people who already have well-balanced lives (or people with hypomania or something).
Closely related, sometimes people omit cost-benefit analysis entirely, as if their practical intervention pays for itself immediately. Even when an analysis is included, I think it often underrates trivial inconveniences and willpower costs. Some of these things sound so easy and simple, and yet if I’m tired after a day of work, it can feel like a major imposition to defy my automatic, low-effort habits. And it’s not just me, when I see the people around me trying out new life hacks, I can often feel the resentment radiating off of them that they have to spend a week’s worth of their discretionary willpower on a small expected gain.
I perceive some complacency about resource budgeting, specifically around resource sinks that are optimized against you. It is my guess that if you show someone a way to save time on their chores, a lot of those savings will go toward mindless scrolling.
Two and a half weeks is not long enough for you to triumphantly declare that your clever life-hack has permanently upgraded your life. Two and a half years probably is. Experience tells me that biological & behavioral set points are real, and it takes more than a single-sentence summary to convince me that you’ve permanently altered or outpaced yours.
I give special praise to those doing serious experimentation with followups. I’ll single out Trivial Inconvenience Day and Sabbath.
I think Everyday Systems is pretty good on this axis.