Summary
The goal of Goal factoring: in tradeoff situations, get all of the good with none of the bad
Parable of the orange: two people want the last orange. However, one only wanted the peel, the other the flesh — both can get what they want
Case study: preoccupied professor
Grading has lots of costs.
Grading produces a bag of benefits
The professor thought about how to reach all benefits without paying any of the costs
In the end, he found a system in which students could grade themselves
Goal Factoring algorithm:
Choose an action (that you consider doing, that has some (frequent) costs, or that you aren’t sure why you’re doing)
Prepare to accept all worlds (accept the idea of not doing the action. If hesitation comes up, this signals an implicit goal)
Factor the action out into goals
Remember the difference between wanting to do X and wanting to appear to do X
include goals like social standing, sense of self, etc.;
Check with button test (button removes action and achieves goals) whether these goals contain all the benefits of the action
Brainstorm replacement actions (first for one goal at a time. Then, combine replacement actions into a coherent plan)
Reality Check: Imagine the plan. Does system I protest? What does Murphyjitsu reveal?
Before starting the process: remind yourself that you are not forced to replace your action. This makes the brainstorming process less scary!
Summary
The goal of Goal factoring: in tradeoff situations, get all of the good with none of the bad
Parable of the orange: two people want the last orange. However, one only wanted the peel, the other the flesh — both can get what they want
Case study: preoccupied professor
Grading has lots of costs.
Grading produces a bag of benefits
The professor thought about how to reach all benefits without paying any of the costs
In the end, he found a system in which students could grade themselves
Goal Factoring algorithm:
Choose an action (that you consider doing, that has some (frequent) costs, or that you aren’t sure why you’re doing)
Prepare to accept all worlds (accept the idea of not doing the action. If hesitation comes up, this signals an implicit goal)
Factor the action out into goals
Remember the difference between wanting to do X and wanting to appear to do X
include goals like social standing, sense of self, etc.;
Check with button test (button removes action and achieves goals) whether these goals contain all the benefits of the action
Brainstorm replacement actions (first for one goal at a time. Then, combine replacement actions into a coherent plan)
Reality Check: Imagine the plan. Does system I protest? What does Murphyjitsu reveal?
Before starting the process: remind yourself that you are not forced to replace your action. This makes the brainstorming process less scary!