The problem is that thinking of trivial optimizations is more rewarding in the short term. It gives the impression of working toward improvement and conveniently distracts you from the larger optimizations (which for me are surrounded by ugh fields).
I rarely even implement such “subopimizations” because I skip the part about making the optimized behavior habitual, they are simply compulsive.
So, macro-optimization problem: how do I stop compulsive micro-optimization?
It’s hard to know what the answer is at that level of abstraction, but probably general techniques on habit-forming would be helpful here. Critch (user:Academician) is really knowledgable about this sort of stuff but I don’t know if he’s systematically written out his ideas.
One approach is to, instead of trying to “get rid of X”, you can “displace X with Y”, where Y is something better than X. So if you spend 2 hours each month sitting down and thinking about how to better structure your life, and spend 15 minutes at the beginning of each day thinking about what you need to do that day and how to do it, that’s a good start. I also try to notice when I am doing something wrong (and then ideally stop doing it).
The problem is that thinking of trivial optimizations is more rewarding in the short term. It gives the impression of working toward improvement and conveniently distracts you from the larger optimizations (which for me are surrounded by ugh fields).
I rarely even implement such “subopimizations” because I skip the part about making the optimized behavior habitual, they are simply compulsive.
So, macro-optimization problem: how do I stop compulsive micro-optimization?
It’s hard to know what the answer is at that level of abstraction, but probably general techniques on habit-forming would be helpful here. Critch (user:Academician) is really knowledgable about this sort of stuff but I don’t know if he’s systematically written out his ideas.
One approach is to, instead of trying to “get rid of X”, you can “displace X with Y”, where Y is something better than X. So if you spend 2 hours each month sitting down and thinking about how to better structure your life, and spend 15 minutes at the beginning of each day thinking about what you need to do that day and how to do it, that’s a good start. I also try to notice when I am doing something wrong (and then ideally stop doing it).