I have touched before on the idea that a rationalist must have something they value more than “rationality”: The Art must have a purpose other than itself, or it collapses into infinite recursion.
Edit: I should say a bit more, because merely quoting the above isn’t likely to convince you of much of anything. You wrote:
The emotional half of my brain would like to be more successful, but the “logical” part of my brain explains (condescendingly) that the poor odds don’t justify the extra effort. Which is right?
A few things come to mind. What is your measure of “success”? As someone who occasionally works at achieving personal goals, I can tell you that “success” is never part of the equation; I never say, “I should study very hard, so that I can one day be successful,” for instance. In fact, I seem to be most productive when my efforts aren’t really “effort” at all, but are more like guided play.
I don’t have sources right now, but I’m fairly sure this is how the highest achievers in any field do what they do: if we take to be true (or at least reasonably accurate) Malcolm Gladwell’s claim that 10,000 hours of practice is a necessary condition to excel at something, then it should be clear that an easy way to do all that work is for it to not feel like work at all.
My question is really whether it is rational to pursue a competitive goal (#1 tennis player), not a personal goal (learn French). Thousands of children practice tirelessly to one day become a pro tennis player. Only 100 men can eventually make a living from it. Is it worth the intensely hard work for such a long shot? Wouldn’t it be smarter for all those kids to spend those hours doing their homework instead?
I’d really like to start a small business, but the odds of success are very small. Should I throw myself at this goal? If the probability were 50%, definitely. But what if it’s 10% or 1%? What about the opportunity cost compared to simply getting a corporate job? There’s a wee bit of insanity to startup founders that I wish I had.
Candidates who have founded a startup company are often considered extremely desirable by recruiters, even if their company fails, and for that reason the opportunity costs may not be as high as you think.
from Something to Protect:
Edit: I should say a bit more, because merely quoting the above isn’t likely to convince you of much of anything. You wrote:
A few things come to mind. What is your measure of “success”? As someone who occasionally works at achieving personal goals, I can tell you that “success” is never part of the equation; I never say, “I should study very hard, so that I can one day be successful,” for instance. In fact, I seem to be most productive when my efforts aren’t really “effort” at all, but are more like guided play.
I don’t have sources right now, but I’m fairly sure this is how the highest achievers in any field do what they do: if we take to be true (or at least reasonably accurate) Malcolm Gladwell’s claim that 10,000 hours of practice is a necessary condition to excel at something, then it should be clear that an easy way to do all that work is for it to not feel like work at all.
My question is really whether it is rational to pursue a competitive goal (#1 tennis player), not a personal goal (learn French). Thousands of children practice tirelessly to one day become a pro tennis player. Only 100 men can eventually make a living from it. Is it worth the intensely hard work for such a long shot? Wouldn’t it be smarter for all those kids to spend those hours doing their homework instead?
I’d really like to start a small business, but the odds of success are very small. Should I throw myself at this goal? If the probability were 50%, definitely. But what if it’s 10% or 1%? What about the opportunity cost compared to simply getting a corporate job? There’s a wee bit of insanity to startup founders that I wish I had.
Candidates who have founded a startup company are often considered extremely desirable by recruiters, even if their company fails, and for that reason the opportunity costs may not be as high as you think.