The Efficiency Trap: How to Avoid Over-Optimizing

The Efficiency Trap: How to Avoid Over-Optimizing

Welcome to Effective Habits, a weekly newsletter where I share evidence-based strategies and tools to help you live a happy, healthy, and productive life.

Today at a Glance:

• Escape the Happiness Trap

• Have a Gas Stove? How to Reduce Pollution That May Harm Health

• Too Much Efficiency Makes Everything Worse: The Strong Version of Goodhart's Law

Escape the Happiness TrapDr. Russ Harris & Brett McKay

Lights, Camera, ... Are you tired of chasing happiness but feeling even more unhappy in the process? It turns out that trying to eliminate or reasoning your way out of negative emotions and cling to positive ones often leads to the opposite effect. Instead of trying to get rid of negative emotions, what if happiness was all about doing good? That's the idea behind Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) (which has been validated by hundreds of clinical studies). By accepting both good and bad feelings and focusing on taking action towards personal values, you can create a meaningful, flourishing life.Action!

1. Accept negative thoughts or feelings by acknowledging them without judgment. When experiencing anxiety, avoid struggling with it and layering on additional negative emotions. Instead, observe how your body reacts to the feeling and notice it without engaging in it.

2. Distance yourself from distressing thoughts by using techniques like observing or labeling. Simply say to yourself, "I'm having the thought/feeling that..." and get curious about your emotions. This diffuses the emotion and reduces its harmful effects.

3. Be present in the moment, observing your thoughts and feelings (both psoitive and negative) without judgment or attempts to change them.

4. Expand your notion of self and identity beyond thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

5. Identify personal values in different areas of your life and strive to live according to those principles. Imagine how you would treat yourself, friends, family, and life differently if you magically had no negative emotions or doubts at all. Then, take note of what you could do differently and make adjustments accordingly

6. Take concrete steps to incorporate changes that align with your values and lead to positive change, such as goal setting, exposure to difficult thoughts or experiences, and skill development.

Have a Gas Stove? How to Reduce Pollution That May Harm HealthDr. Wynne Armand

Lights, Camera, ...Do you use a gas stove at home? It turns out that it can harm your health and the environment! Gas stoves release lung irritants like nitrogen dioxide and tiny airborne particles that can cause asthma and other health problems. Children living in homes that use gas stoves are 42% more likely to have asthma! Plus, even when turned off, gas stoves leak methane gas, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. But don't worry, there are easy steps you can take to mitigate these issues.Action!

1. Ventilate your kitchen when cooking by opening windows or using exhaust fans that move air outdoors. Avoid ductless fans that recirculate fumes through filters.

2. Use air purifiers with a high clean air delivery rate (CADR) matched to the size of your room. Although they do not remove all pollutants, they can improve indoor air quality. Replace filters when they're dirty.

3. Switch to electric appliances for cooking. Consider using an electric kettle, slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, toaster oven, or microwave instead of a gas stove. You can also replace your gas stove with an electric one, which is better for the environment and can use renewable clean energy sources.

Too Much Efficiency Makes Everything Worse: The Strong Version of Goodhart's LawJascha Sohl-Dickstein

Lights, Camera, ...Have you ever noticed that sometimes when we try to make things more efficient, it ends up making everything worse? It's counterintuitive, but true. This is known as the strong version of Goodhart's law, which states that when a measure becomes the target, it ceases to be a good measure. For example, standardized tests seem like a good way to track student progress, but they incentivize schools to focus on teaching students how to test well, rather than important, broadly applicable skills. The same is true in many areas of life, where we become so focused on optimizing one thing that we forget about the bigger picture. It's important to remember that efficiency isn't always the best thing for us, and we need to think carefully about the unintended consequences of our actions.Action!

1. Align proxy goals with desired outcomes: Identify the proxies in your life that influence your behavior and change these proxies to encourage behavior that aligns with your goals. For example, unfollow social media accounts that promote negative self-image, surround yourself with supportive friends and family, or schedule your day to prioritize important tasks.

2. Regularize the system: Identify areas in your life where complexity or excessive behavior is a problem. Add friction or extra costs to these areas to penalize complexity and reduce undesirable behavior. For example, impose a self-imposed fine for every time you engage in procrastination, or establish a habit of reflecting on your spending habits before making purchases.

3. Inject noise into the system: Add random variation to your decision-making processes to avoid overfitting to specific situations. For example, try new things and take risks outside of your comfort zone, or approach a problem from a different perspective than you normally would.

4. Apply early stopping: Monitor your decisions and actions over time, and stop when you start to see negative effects or diminishing returns. For example, stop pursuing a certain strategy when it becomes clear that it is not yielding the desired results, or acknowledge when an activity is causing too much stress and pause or cancel it.

5. Restrict capabilities/capacity: Limit your capacity to prevent overfitting and excessive behavior. For example, set a daily time limit on social media usage, or limit the number of commitments you take on to avoid burnout.

6. Increase capabilities/capacity: Increase your capacity to achieve your goals by acquiring new skills, knowledge, or resources. For example, enroll in a course to learn a new skill or language, or invest in a gym membership to improve your physical health.

TOOL TIP

Notion: A single space where you can think, write, and plan. This all-in-one and fully customizable workspace lets you capture thoughts, manage projects, or even run an entire company. It's what I have been using to track tasks and projects, as well as manage all the content for this newsletter. They recently integrated AI functionality too!

FUN FACT 

The black marks/stripes that some athletes wear underneath their eyes (especially in american football and baseball) are actually are supposed to prevent glares from light by absorbing it. While some tests have shown that eye black does not appear to reduce glare, it does improve the ability to differentiate between light and dark.

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult a medical professional for advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We are not liable for any risks or issues that may arise from using this information.