The opposite of slack would be… deliberate constraints? Which I find very valuable. In addition to the value of deliberate constraints- Parkinson’s law is a real thing, as are search costs, analysis paralysis, eustress (distress’s motivating cousin). I find when I’m structured and extremely busy, I’m productive and happy, but when I have slack, I’m not.
Yes, this post was very useful as advice to reverse to me. I think it possible now that one of the biggest problems with how I’m living my life today is optimising too hard for slack.
Low-confidence comment disclaimer; while I’ve had the concept pretty much nailed down before, I never before thought about it as something you might have too much off. After reading this post I realised that some people do not have enough slack in their life, implying you can choose to have less or more slack, implying it’s possible too have too much slack.
I don’t have abstract ‘this is what too much slack looks like’ clearly defined right now, but one thing resonates from my own experience. I often find myself with free time, and ‘waste it away’. I don’t really do anything on most weekends. Having more constraints as guidance for behaviour in free time could likely remediate that; but I seem to be very good at talking myself out of any recurrent commitments, saying that they would reduce my freedom/flexibility/slack.
At the same time, it seems to me that I’m happiest, most ‘alive’, most in the ‘flow’, in situations with exactly the kind of binding constraints this post talks of avoiding. The constraints focus you on the present, on the very moment, on being. For me this is clearest in sailing regattas—a clear purpose that acts as a binding constraint (to go as fast as possible while staying safe—a safety margin does not for slack make, since you are not willing to ignore crossing it), consuming all your attention (at least during the time you’re responsible for the ship, and often more).
I suppose one can stretch the metaphor and say that having no slack on too many dimensions is likely to squash you; but having slack everywhere leaves you floating around aimlessly. Keeping most constraints slack and choosing only a couple aligned ones to bind against is possibly a way to find purpose.
I think we have to distinguish slack from freedom or indeed total absence of constraints. When I was younger I was fond of saying that freedom is overrated, because all this striving for freedom comes at significant costs of its own. Deliberately limiting oneself can indeed create some slack. For example, I don’t have a driver’s license (initially for environmental reasons), which might look like a lack of freedom to go where I want. But I noticed that this doesn’t take notable options away (I live in a big city with good public transportation). I and my environment adapt and if I really need a car I can take a taxi from all the saved car costs. Maybe not the best example to illustrate this, but the best I currently have on offer :-)
The opposite of slack would be… deliberate constraints? Which I find very valuable. In addition to the value of deliberate constraints- Parkinson’s law is a real thing, as are search costs, analysis paralysis, eustress (distress’s motivating cousin). I find when I’m structured and extremely busy, I’m productive and happy, but when I have slack, I’m not.
Could this be a case of Reversing the advice you get?
Yes, this post was very useful as advice to reverse to me. I think it possible now that one of the biggest problems with how I’m living my life today is optimising too hard for slack.
Low-confidence comment disclaimer; while I’ve had the concept pretty much nailed down before, I never before thought about it as something you might have too much off. After reading this post I realised that some people do not have enough slack in their life, implying you can choose to have less or more slack, implying it’s possible too have too much slack.
I don’t have abstract ‘this is what too much slack looks like’ clearly defined right now, but one thing resonates from my own experience. I often find myself with free time, and ‘waste it away’. I don’t really do anything on most weekends. Having more constraints as guidance for behaviour in free time could likely remediate that; but I seem to be very good at talking myself out of any recurrent commitments, saying that they would reduce my freedom/flexibility/slack.
At the same time, it seems to me that I’m happiest, most ‘alive’, most in the ‘flow’, in situations with exactly the kind of binding constraints this post talks of avoiding. The constraints focus you on the present, on the very moment, on being. For me this is clearest in sailing regattas—a clear purpose that acts as a binding constraint (to go as fast as possible while staying safe—a safety margin does not for slack make, since you are not willing to ignore crossing it), consuming all your attention (at least during the time you’re responsible for the ship, and often more).
I suppose one can stretch the metaphor and say that having no slack on too many dimensions is likely to squash you; but having slack everywhere leaves you floating around aimlessly. Keeping most constraints slack and choosing only a couple aligned ones to bind against is possibly a way to find purpose.
I think we have to distinguish slack from freedom or indeed total absence of constraints. When I was younger I was fond of saying that freedom is overrated, because all this striving for freedom comes at significant costs of its own. Deliberately limiting oneself can indeed create some slack. For example, I don’t have a driver’s license (initially for environmental reasons), which might look like a lack of freedom to go where I want. But I noticed that this doesn’t take notable options away (I live in a big city with good public transportation). I and my environment adapt and if I really need a car I can take a taxi from all the saved car costs. Maybe not the best example to illustrate this, but the best I currently have on offer :-)