Evolution and Revolution
Another excellent prompt. What can we do to put more weight on our long term best interests over our short term ones. Admittedly, I am not an excellent exemplar of this. I've whiled away many evenings in short term pursuits, be they video games, Netflix shows, etc. I have done reasonably well, though, at balancing the short and long term so maybe I can take a stab at it anyway.
In chess, there is the idea of evolution and revolution. As you play, you try to slowly evolve the position into your favor by accumulating small advantages. At some point, though, an opportunity arises for you to commit to a revolution, perhaps an all out attack initiated by a piece sacrifice. It's rare that a revolution lasts the entirety of a game, however, and you usually have to create some advantage from the attack and then go back to evolution. Balancing these two phases is important to be able to play effectively: if you get stuck in former, you may never be able to convert an advantage, whereas in the latter, you may overextend and lose an otherwise winning position.
Sometimes I feel like my self-improvement strategy could fall into these two phases. A lot of the time, I am taking small steps to improve myself daily; building some new positive habit like meditation or exercise. While important, these things can sometimes take willpower to stick to and it may take some time to see the payoff.
Some of the most profound changes in my life are initiated by a revolution, usually some step which could greatly impact my life for the better but might imply some risk, even if only to my psyche. Changing career paths, risking security or rejection. Walking the Camino, risking injury or bedbugs. Moving to a new city, risking the comfort of the known. Looking back on most of these, the benefits far outweigh the costs, but at the time each seemed like a hard decision. They did have one advantage, though. Like in chess, the risk involved in these revolutionary decisions comes with a sense of adrenaline or excitement. It is easier to focus, easier to invest more of your time and energy because the situation calls for it. And so, there is less need for intrinsic motivation once you've committed to one of these "revolutionary decisions". You simply follow the needs of the moment.
Your whole life can't be evolutionary, nor entirely revolutionary. I think there have to be moments of both, balancing the quick exciting changes with the slow and steady ones. Each equips you differently: evolution builds willpower whereas revolution trains us in putting it all on the line. I think the latter also contributes to how well we do in a crisis.
When things are bad, I'll go into a kind of stripped down version of myself. Kind of like in the revolutionary mode, the needs of the moment are so great that I just can't help but follow them. I think there's some peace to be had in that, as there really are few decisions to make. Your choices are almost predetermined by more fundamental aspects of your character.
How about you? How do you deal with the crises that arise? And do you feel like it is something you learned to do somehow?
In chess, there is the idea of evolution and revolution. As you play, you try to slowly evolve the position into your favor by accumulating small advantages. At some point, though, an opportunity arises for you to commit to a revolution, perhaps an all out attack initiated by a piece sacrifice. It's rare that a revolution lasts the entirety of a game, however, and you usually have to create some advantage from the attack and then go back to evolution. Balancing these two phases is important to be able to play effectively: if you get stuck in former, you may never be able to convert an advantage, whereas in the latter, you may overextend and lose an otherwise winning position.
Sometimes I feel like my self-improvement strategy could fall into these two phases. A lot of the time, I am taking small steps to improve myself daily; building some new positive habit like meditation or exercise. While important, these things can sometimes take willpower to stick to and it may take some time to see the payoff.
Some of the most profound changes in my life are initiated by a revolution, usually some step which could greatly impact my life for the better but might imply some risk, even if only to my psyche. Changing career paths, risking security or rejection. Walking the Camino, risking injury or bedbugs. Moving to a new city, risking the comfort of the known. Looking back on most of these, the benefits far outweigh the costs, but at the time each seemed like a hard decision. They did have one advantage, though. Like in chess, the risk involved in these revolutionary decisions comes with a sense of adrenaline or excitement. It is easier to focus, easier to invest more of your time and energy because the situation calls for it. And so, there is less need for intrinsic motivation once you've committed to one of these "revolutionary decisions". You simply follow the needs of the moment.
Your whole life can't be evolutionary, nor entirely revolutionary. I think there have to be moments of both, balancing the quick exciting changes with the slow and steady ones. Each equips you differently: evolution builds willpower whereas revolution trains us in putting it all on the line. I think the latter also contributes to how well we do in a crisis.
When things are bad, I'll go into a kind of stripped down version of myself. Kind of like in the revolutionary mode, the needs of the moment are so great that I just can't help but follow them. I think there's some peace to be had in that, as there really are few decisions to make. Your choices are almost predetermined by more fundamental aspects of your character.
How about you? How do you deal with the crises that arise? And do you feel like it is something you learned to do somehow?
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