Getting better

I’ve been thinking about how one can make their life better. I think there are two modes of action: one uses the knowledge you already have, the other expands it.

Gradient Ascent

If the situation is okay and not far from being good, then getting there iteratively can work. It might look like this:

1. Notice when something makes you unhappy. Write it down.
2. Understand. I find drawing a causal tree to be useful.
3. Improve. What can you change to makes things a little better?
4. Act. Implement the changes.
5. Measure whether things have improved.

Breaking things down makes it easy to see what is wrong. But this method will only make local changes, and only works if you understand the mechanism.

Exploration

If the above isn’t enough, you’ll have to jump somewhere, try something. I cannot tell you what. Make changes, inverse your routine, go to an unknown place. Ask other people for ideas. Keep an open mind.

The more data you have, the better equipped you are.