I appreciated this post a lot. I practice a rigorous mental modification system that operates on a narrow set of principles that I essentially need to uphold in every situation without respite, so I’m closely familiar with the subject matter, and the way you expressed it rings true to me. The more important and pervasive a given principle is to you, the more necessary it is to have an unequivocally clear formalization of it. That way, you know exactly what you’re following with no wiggle room, and if anyone asks, you know exactly what to tell them. I can’t understate the value of making those principles public for the purpose of seeking feedback as well; there could always be ways of refining those principles even further that you just haven’t thought of.
I do get some sense that… you might actually be a person who benefits from the opposite of this post’s advice? I think most people are underprincipled, but it’s also possible to fall into the Too Scrupulous trap. Most principles require some flexibility and interpretation, and I think trying to iron them down too much ahead of time can be wasted motion.
There’s also a particular failure mode where Principled People who end up with slightly different principles end up having a hard time coordinating.
I don’t know whether any of that applies to you, just some counter-food-for-thought.
The principles I’m alluding to here are purely self-applied, so I don’t have to worry about crossing signals with anyone in that regard, but I’ll heed your advice in situations where I’m working with aligning my principles with others’. It’s also an isolated case where my utility function absolutely necessitates their constant implementation and optimization; generally, I do try to be flexible with ordinary principles that don’t have to be quite so unbending.
I appreciated this post a lot. I practice a rigorous mental modification system that operates on a narrow set of principles that I essentially need to uphold in every situation without respite, so I’m closely familiar with the subject matter, and the way you expressed it rings true to me. The more important and pervasive a given principle is to you, the more necessary it is to have an unequivocally clear formalization of it. That way, you know exactly what you’re following with no wiggle room, and if anyone asks, you know exactly what to tell them. I can’t understate the value of making those principles public for the purpose of seeking feedback as well; there could always be ways of refining those principles even further that you just haven’t thought of.
Thanks!
That said...
I do get some sense that… you might actually be a person who benefits from the opposite of this post’s advice? I think most people are underprincipled, but it’s also possible to fall into the Too Scrupulous trap. Most principles require some flexibility and interpretation, and I think trying to iron them down too much ahead of time can be wasted motion.
There’s also a particular failure mode where Principled People who end up with slightly different principles end up having a hard time coordinating.
I don’t know whether any of that applies to you, just some counter-food-for-thought.
The principles I’m alluding to here are purely self-applied, so I don’t have to worry about crossing signals with anyone in that regard, but I’ll heed your advice in situations where I’m working with aligning my principles with others’. It’s also an isolated case where my utility function absolutely necessitates their constant implementation and optimization; generally, I do try to be flexible with ordinary principles that don’t have to be quite so unbending.