Hmm, I’m wondering if the law of equal but opposite advice is applying here?
I completely agree that some people do too many things, and that moderation is important! Sky-diving without a parachute is an example of doing something, and obviously dumb.
I think the important question is, on the margin, are people better off doing things more? And in my personal life, and in the people I see around me, the answer is overwhelmingly yes. I see a lot of people paralysed by perfectionism, indecision, anxiety etc. Who always wait for the perfect opportunity, and never deviate from the path of least resistance. And I think those people have too much moderation and not enough agency, and that a post exhorting them to be more agenty is exactly what they need.
I think there are also people who are great at being agenty and really need to learn moderation. And it’s approximately impossible to write a post catered to both at once.
My post is very much aimed at the people I have in mind. And I’m implicitly making the empirical claim that most people, on the margin, would benefit from being more agenty. Which is true in my experience, but I definitely live in a bubble.
I think “inherently false” is an extremely strong assertion against this post, and I’d be interested in hearing more justification for that.
Thanks a lot for writing this! I read this a while ago, and discovered that “under-desk bike pedal things” exist, and have now successfully trained a TAP to idly cycle on mine every time I’m on a video call, which is surprisingly effective for ensuring I get some actual exercise done