Self-discipline, Optimization Level, & More

Sharpening your thinking today:

• Makes-You-Think Tweet: Self-discipline is not the way

• Mind-Expanding Concept: Optimization Level

• Cool Quote or Question: Hardship vs Feeling Necessary

• High-Signal Content: Hunger Games But Really Slow

Makes-You-Think Tweet

Mind-Expanding Concept

Optimization Level

We are always optimizing for something. Consciously or unconsciously.

Optimizing for 'x' means that 'x' has priority over other things. Hence, we want to protect it, enhance it, or have more of it.

We should actively choose what to optimize for, but often we do it unconsciously. We start things for certain reasons. Then, time goes by. Things change. And because life is messy, james-bond-love-life level of messy, we end up optimizing for something else.

What are you optimizing for?

I regularly ask myself this question as a reminder to focus on what matters. Or at least to double-check if I'm still on the path I chose to follow.

A few years back, I used to trade agricultural commodities. I loved the job but felt that my learning curve was flattening out. I saw in management consulting some of the attributes I liked in trading with the upside of working in a wide variety of industries, topics, and places. Variety! Diversity! Things I valued deeply, so optimizing for them made sense.

I managed to get in and was enjoying the experience. For a while. Then, it became soul-crushing. The interesting parts of the job were not compensating for the stressful 70-hour workweeks. And that initial diversity seemed not as appealing as before. It felt weird. Contradictory even as variety of experiences was still something I deeply valued.

It's not only about 'what' but also 'what level'

One day it hit me: I had optimized at the wrong level.

Working long hours consistently meant not having time (and energy) to hang out with friends, read non-work-related stuff, meet new people, or get a new hobby. By optimizing for diversity in my professional life, I ended up decreasing diversity in my life as a whole. What I valued had not changed. The mistake was optimizing for the local, not the global level.

I want to avoid getting stuck in a local optimum again. Now, besides regularly asking myself what I'm optimizing for, I also ask: at what level? Can I go up one layer and optimize at a more global level?

Cool Quote or Question

High-Signal Content

“They foster the misconception that success in endeavors represents the zenith of human intellectual and emotional capability, when in fact, almost all of the risk and all of the reward in human life revolves around the question of selecting endeavors.”

See you next week,

Filipe