Hammer: when there’s low downside, you’re free to try things. (Yeah, this is a corollary of expected utility maximization that seems obvious, but I still feel like I needed to explicitly and recently learn it.)
Ten examples:
Spend a few hours on a last-minute scholarship application.
Try out dating apps a little (no luck yet, still looking into more effective use. But I still say that trying it was a good choice.)
Call friends/parents when feeling sad.
Go to an Effective Altruism retreat for a weekend.
Be (more) honest with friends.
Be extra friendly in general.
Show more gratitude (inspired by “More Dakka”, which I read thanks to the links at the top of this post.
Spend a few minutes writing a response to this post so that I can get practice with the power of internalizing ideas.
When headache → Advil and hot shower. It just works. Why did I keep just waiting and hoping the headache would go away on its own? Takes a few seconds to get some Advil, and I was going to shower anyways. It’s a huge boost to my well-being and productivity with next to no cost.
Ask questions. It seriously seems like I ask >50% of the questions in whatever room I’m in, and people have thanked me for this. They were ashamed or embarrassed to ask questions or something? What’s the downside?
Hammer: when there’s low downside, you’re free to try things. (Yeah, this is a corollary of expected utility maximization that seems obvious, but I still feel like I needed to explicitly and recently learn it.) Ten examples:
Spend a few hours on a last-minute scholarship application.
Try out dating apps a little (no luck yet, still looking into more effective use. But I still say that trying it was a good choice.)
Call friends/parents when feeling sad.
Go to an Effective Altruism retreat for a weekend.
Be (more) honest with friends.
Be extra friendly in general.
Show more gratitude (inspired by “More Dakka”, which I read thanks to the links at the top of this post.
Spend a few minutes writing a response to this post so that I can get practice with the power of internalizing ideas.
When headache → Advil and hot shower. It just works. Why did I keep just waiting and hoping the headache would go away on its own? Takes a few seconds to get some Advil, and I was going to shower anyways. It’s a huge boost to my well-being and productivity with next to no cost.
Ask questions. It seriously seems like I ask >50% of the questions in whatever room I’m in, and people have thanked me for this. They were ashamed or embarrassed to ask questions or something? What’s the downside?