Kyle Morris

A or B?

A lot of my energy has been spent deliberating

"should I do A or B"

where A and B are

  • 2 different options
  • that are highly abstract
  • and there's little to no consequence of picking either

examples

  • should i "do then think" or is thinking and then doing better?
  • should I do things that don't scale, or do things that scale?
  • should i plan my week or not plan my week?
  • should i dress more fancy and or just keep wearing my cargo pants i like
  • should i be more assertive or less assertive
  • should I code more or code less in a day?
  • should I believe in god or not believe in god?

i'm finding that in most cases the answer seems to be:

  • can you try both?
  • see what you learn
  • pick where you want to fit in the middle / combination of the two

The main blocker is social unwillingness to change on a dime if you identify with A or B already

The reason for always having to know A or B ahead of time is just an overcontrol tendency [1]

e.g., if you believe you're assertive, just "not being assertive" is pretty tricky

But whenever I've done this good things tend to happen even if the act of trying both sucked

Just timebox 1 week to go to one extreme & document what you learn. Try another week on the other extreme

Now you've experienced 2 extremes and you'll be so much more informed than if you speculate

[1] See for context. I imagine this will be referenced in many of my posts given how prevalent it is in my life.