I thought about mentioning simulated annealing, but then it seemed to me like simulated annealing is more involved than the basic concept I wanted to get across (e.g. the cooling phase is an extra complication).
But it’s actually important to the example. If someone intends to allocate their time searching for small and large improvements to their life, then simulated annealing suggests that they should make more of the big ones first. (The person you describe has may not have done this, since they’ve settled into a local optimum but now decide to find a completely different point on the fitness landscape, though without more details it’s entirely possible they’ve decided correctly here.)
I thought about mentioning simulated annealing, but then it seemed to me like simulated annealing is more involved than the basic concept I wanted to get across (e.g. the cooling phase is an extra complication).
But it’s actually important to the example. If someone intends to allocate their time searching for small and large improvements to their life, then simulated annealing suggests that they should make more of the big ones first. (The person you describe has may not have done this, since they’ve settled into a local optimum but now decide to find a completely different point on the fitness landscape, though without more details it’s entirely possible they’ve decided correctly here.)