A Bias Towards Action
Simple heuristics are incredibly powerful when trying to navigate the modern world. I offer you one heuristic that has greatly improved my well-being: a bias towards action.
The Problem:
Technological advancements have created an explosion of opportunities, which naturally comes with a corresponding explosion of choices to be made. If you are a highly conscientious person, this can be extremely daunting and leads to paralysis: Which opportunity should I pursue? Which doors close as a result? You may find yourself exhausted from spending all your time exploring this meta-problem rather than any specific problem.
Complicating matters further are the local maxima of dopamine traps that corporations provide to you in the form of infinite feeds to scroll, where your absent-minded choices feed into an algorithm, which in turn further strengthens the cage of short-term reward by personalizing the content in your feed. Ironically, you willingly place yourself in this cage in exchange for not having to make any substantial choices.
There has to be a way out that does not involve exploring this landscape of choices for very long, which also allows you to sidestep indirect digital wireheading.
A Solution:
You must have a strong internal bias for action. This heuristic is dead simple, but after adopting it, I have found it to almost always lead to a correct decision.
This is obvious where the action is physical:
Should I work out today or should I not work out today? If I have a bias towards action, I will work out, which leads to obvious long-term benefits.
Should I accept an invite to a social event? If I have a bias towards action, I will go out and socialize, which leads to obvious long-term benefits.
Should I sit and scroll for hours? Or more accurately: I just realized I have scrolled for two hours, should I get up and cook a meal? If I have a bias towards action I will put down my phone, and go do something embodied in the kitchen.
Notice that this doesn't necessarily mean doing something physically active.
Should I meditate today or should I not meditate today? If I have a bias towards action, I will sit down and spend just five minutes meditating, which leads to obvious long-term benefits.
On a particularly stressful day, should I take a second and rest, maybe take a nap during a lunch break? If I have a bias towards action, I will shutter the blinds and lie down for just thirty minutes, which leads to obvious long-term benefits.
Should I apply for a new role? If I have a bias towards action, I will take the chance and apply, which could lead to long-term career advancement, and thus obvious long-term benefits.
The Common Rebuttal:
If I were to read this post without my experience of implementing this heuristic, I would quickly dismiss it: You are just saying to do things, and my whole problem is I can't bring myself to do things. I obviously know there are things where if I do them, I would be better off. But I have a myriad of reasons as to why I cannot bring myself to do these things. The whole problem is I can't make myself do them.
The devil is truly in the phenomenological details here. This heuristic solves the problem of activation energy. A common piece of advice when procrastinating is to make the following deal: Tell yourself you will do whatever activity for just five minutes, and often you will find yourself finishing the task.
Similarly, this heuristic should be applied as follows:
- You find yourself debating some choice.
- Ask yourself if you had a strong bias towards action, what would you do?
- Do that thing immediately.
At first, tell yourself you are just going to do this exercise a few times. You may expect to lose the war, but commit yourself to try to win a handful of battles.
What you will find is that you build a muscle. You will be surprised how often your brain presents a choice where this heuristic gives you a clear answer. You will then further surprise yourself that after following this heuristic you receive a steady stream of rewards, perhaps a delicious meal, a new job, a well-rested body, a new friend, or endorphins from a workout. As you continue to apply this heuristic, things will snowball and you may find your life very different without having to conjure any sort of grand plan in the face of the countless decisions you have in front of you. You may also find your weekly screen time trend downward.