This is symbolic experimentation, and it’s worse than doing nothing at all. I can feel as though I’ve explored many ways to optimize my life, when in fact I’ve been accumulating failed attempts to change my habits. The anecdotal opinions I gather from these experiences are worse than sheer ignorance. They’re a bunch of fish stories.
Now that you mention it, this is definitely a problem, at least for me. The times I’ve tried something, but haven’t given it a “good try” versus the times I’ve actually followed through with that thing seem to be weighted too similarly than they should. It’s good to distinguish between these two types of exploration.
A corollary for this realization, assuming this bias is common in the population, is that you should probably ask others how long they tried doing something they’re recommending you do or don’t do.
I’m skeptical about how effective “good tries” can be as a substitute for lock ins and creating habits. There’s something to be said about having a pre-defined exit-condition & goal state you’re attempting to reach though. In combination with TAPs, peer pressure, and monetary lock-in (using something like Beeminder, or a friend taking collateral and then destroying it if you don’t follow through) the addition of a “good try” rule as an evaluation metric of how much you should update as a result of your experiments is probably a good idea.
… the addition of a “good try” rule as an evaluation metric of how much you should update as a result of your experiments is probably a good idea.
This is exactly how I imagined the Good Try Rule would fit into a life change plan, so thank you for articulating it so nicely. The reason I wanted to contrast a “good try” with lock-in and habits is that at any moment in time, a person already is subject to many forms of lock-ins and many habits.
As they take stock of their past efforts, they will find that they’ve done lots of things consistently in the past. I’ve been a citizen of the USA for my whole life, and have a long-standing habit of biting my fingernails. The former is lock-in; the latter is a habit. But I wouldn’t say that I’ve been giving US citizenship or nail-biting a “good try.” These are accidental or externally-imposed pressures driving my behavior.
So in going through our memories to question when and whether we’ve given something a “good try,” we can’t just use the behaviors where we’ve shown consistency over time. Instead, we want to look for examples of changing our behavior consistently over the long term, and we didn’t face pre-existing external pressures to do so. That gives us a better sense of where we gave something a good try.
But an important part of giving something a good try is self-imposed lock-in and creating habits deliberately, as you point out.
Now that you mention it, this is definitely a problem, at least for me. The times I’ve tried something, but haven’t given it a “good try” versus the times I’ve actually followed through with that thing seem to be weighted too similarly than they should. It’s good to distinguish between these two types of exploration.
A corollary for this realization, assuming this bias is common in the population, is that you should probably ask others how long they tried doing something they’re recommending you do or don’t do.
I’m skeptical about how effective “good tries” can be as a substitute for lock ins and creating habits. There’s something to be said about having a pre-defined exit-condition & goal state you’re attempting to reach though. In combination with TAPs, peer pressure, and monetary lock-in (using something like Beeminder, or a friend taking collateral and then destroying it if you don’t follow through) the addition of a “good try” rule as an evaluation metric of how much you should update as a result of your experiments is probably a good idea.
This is exactly how I imagined the Good Try Rule would fit into a life change plan, so thank you for articulating it so nicely. The reason I wanted to contrast a “good try” with lock-in and habits is that at any moment in time, a person already is subject to many forms of lock-ins and many habits.
As they take stock of their past efforts, they will find that they’ve done lots of things consistently in the past. I’ve been a citizen of the USA for my whole life, and have a long-standing habit of biting my fingernails. The former is lock-in; the latter is a habit. But I wouldn’t say that I’ve been giving US citizenship or nail-biting a “good try.” These are accidental or externally-imposed pressures driving my behavior.
So in going through our memories to question when and whether we’ve given something a “good try,” we can’t just use the behaviors where we’ve shown consistency over time. Instead, we want to look for examples of changing our behavior consistently over the long term, and we didn’t face pre-existing external pressures to do so. That gives us a better sense of where we gave something a good try.
But an important part of giving something a good try is self-imposed lock-in and creating habits deliberately, as you point out.