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sph 4 hours ago

A few notes about your comment, that I feel is well-meaning but carries a lot of common misconceptions:

- aiming for an end goal is not fine in most cases, it is simply a very common, terrible idea. You need a process, not a goal. "Journey over destination", yadda yadda

- 99% of human behaviour is governed by processes we call habits. Operating on the habit system is the key to long-term behavioural change, but one also has to recognize replacing habits is a long, delicate affair and one tends to ask too much of themselves. The metaphor I carry in my head is you're trying to steer a bull with a feather; easy does it. "Tiny Habits" is a good self-help book with good science behind it

- life is indeed dynamic but I feel such a hyper-rational, mechanistic way of approaching the conundrum is setting yourself up to failure. I recommend philosophy rather, especially Taoism, to embrace all of these concepts into a unified worldview of change: change being intrinsic to the universe, doing with little effort, and not forcing yourself (to burnout). You are not a machine.

koliber 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Appreciate your thoughts. I think if we sat down and talked we would agree on a lot of things.

re: end goals: in most cases, you still need an end goal in mind in order to craft a process that will get you there. In the end, it is the process that matters and the goal is there only for measuring progress and adjusting course. However, a single process for a single goal is not enough in a dynamic changing world. You need a way of being able to react and adjust or even drastically change the process.

re: habits. Again, fully agree given a static goal. But if the circumstances change, the existing habits might no longer serve you. You need to be able to adjust habits.

re: hyper-rational. This is my style. I find that I can think, explain, and execute mechanically more effectively. It's practical. Deep down, there is a philosophy behind this, but I have a hard time explaining and applying philosophy.

sph 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Agreed on most things, but it’s worth remembering why we have habits: because it’s much less energy-intensive, and brains are energy minimizer machines. It takes a lot of energy and effort to adopt a new habit. The philosophy angle is to remind one we are not machines and we will never be. The healthiest approach is to work with the grain (of our brain lol), not against it.

Thanks for the gratifying discussion