The second principle of Design is Amortization: pay up-front costs now to save attention in the long run.
I do this, a lot. More precisely, as soon as I think of something that can improve my lot, or that I should try, or that I should do in general—given I don’t plan it taking more than say 30 minutes—I tend to add it to my todo for the day and do it in the evening. Aaand, it’s not all rosy. The problem is if you do this at high volume enough, important but not urgent stuff (cf. the Eisenhower matrix) go onto the backburner.
I’m not too sure yet what the countermeasure to these “amortization traps” are. One thing that’s been recommended is doing small tasks in batches. Another is to increase the periodicity on non-essential things (e.g. why shave your beard twice a week if once will do?).
One of the central problems I’ve encountered (and multiple people have bugged me about here) writing Hammertime is that I’m failing to the typical mind fallacy way too much. Thus far, my plan has basically been to just write about the direction I think I personally need to update towards the ideal instead of the big picture. So any given post is probably only helpful on the off chance that you deviate from the ideal in the same direction as I do.
I’m sad to say that even though I knew I was typical minding, I still instinctively registered surprise at your comment; thanks for sharing. Minds are weird and I need to get out more.
I do this, a lot. More precisely, as soon as I think of something that can improve my lot, or that I should try, or that I should do in general—given I don’t plan it taking more than say 30 minutes—I tend to add it to my todo for the day and do it in the evening. Aaand, it’s not all rosy. The problem is if you do this at high volume enough, important but not urgent stuff (cf. the Eisenhower matrix) go onto the backburner.
I’m not too sure yet what the countermeasure to these “amortization traps” are. One thing that’s been recommended is doing small tasks in batches. Another is to increase the periodicity on non-essential things (e.g. why shave your beard twice a week if once will do?).
One of the central problems I’ve encountered (and multiple people have bugged me about here) writing Hammertime is that I’m failing to the typical mind fallacy way too much. Thus far, my plan has basically been to just write about the direction I think I personally need to update towards the ideal instead of the big picture. So any given post is probably only helpful on the off chance that you deviate from the ideal in the same direction as I do.
I’m sad to say that even though I knew I was typical minding, I still instinctively registered surprise at your comment; thanks for sharing. Minds are weird and I need to get out more.