Productivity and akrasia are neighbouring valleys in a bistable system. If you’re productive, you can keep up behaviour which lets you continue be productive (e.g. get your tasks done, sleep well, exercise). If you seem be behind on your tasks one day, it stresses you out a little, so you put some extra effort in to return to equilibrium. But if you’re too far behind one day, your stress level shoots through the roof, so you put in a lot of extra effort, so you sleep less, so you have less effort to put in, so your stress level increases—and either you persevere gloriously because you tried really hard, or you fall apart. Make an ill-advised bet and you end up in the akratic equilibrium, and climbing back up will be rough.
But putting in extra effort is not the only response you have in order to decrease stress (sometimes). You can also give up on some of your plans and prioritise within what you can manage. Throwing your plans overboard gives you no chance of success, but it could make your productivity loop more robust. This has to be managed against the risk of degrading the strength of your habits, however. You’re a finely-tuned multidimensional control system, and there are pitfalls in every direction.
The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area.
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource.
When do you throw out luggage? When do you let out steam? If propositional attitudes are part of your control loop, how do you consciously manage it so conscious management doesn’t interfere with the loop? Without resorting to model-dissolving outside-view perspectives, I mean.
Modest epistemology and hubris are bistable as well. You need hubris in order to produce anything worthwhile so you have the self-confidence required to produce anything worthwhile. Grr, need a better word for hubris.
Productivity and akrasia are neighbouring valleys in a bistable system. If you’re productive, you can keep up behaviour which lets you continue be productive (e.g. get your tasks done, sleep well, exercise). If you seem be behind on your tasks one day, it stresses you out a little, so you put some extra effort in to return to equilibrium. But if you’re too far behind one day, your stress level shoots through the roof, so you put in a lot of extra effort, so you sleep less, so you have less effort to put in, so your stress level increases—and either you persevere gloriously because you tried really hard, or you fall apart. Make an ill-advised bet and you end up in the akratic equilibrium, and climbing back up will be rough.
But putting in extra effort is not the only response you have in order to decrease stress (sometimes). You can also give up on some of your plans and prioritise within what you can manage. Throwing your plans overboard gives you no chance of success, but it could make your productivity loop more robust. This has to be managed against the risk of degrading the strength of your habits, however. You’re a finely-tuned multidimensional control system, and there are pitfalls in every direction.
The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area.
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource.
When do you throw out luggage? When do you let out steam? If propositional attitudes are part of your control loop, how do you consciously manage it so conscious management doesn’t interfere with the loop? Without resorting to model-dissolving outside-view perspectives, I mean.
Modest epistemology and hubris are bistable as well. You need hubris in order to produce anything worthwhile so you have the self-confidence required to produce anything worthwhile. Grr, need a better word for hubris.