10 milli-blog - what I learned in 2024 - optimism saved the curious cat from being killed
#update
parents:: milli-blog
daily note:: 2025-01-09
It's easy to be a pessimist (and seemingly especially so today, though maybe everyone at every time thinks this).
- Polarization is going to tear us apart!
- Climate change is almost impossible to correct now
- AI will turn us all into paperclips
However, pessimism is a very unproductive mindset to have. For instance, right now, I'm quite pessimistic about how this blog post will turn out. I'm worried that it's going to sound like gibberish, or reveal my biases and incompetencies, or just not end up getting finished. That makes me want to quit this and go do something else. Maybe pessimism is actually due to laze.
However, it's very possible to be optimistic. And I feel better when I'm optimistic.
- I have better ideas when I'm optimistic
- I communicate better when I'm optimistic
- I work harder when I'm optimistic
So... how can I skew more optimistic?
I guess by first identifying, what are the kinds of pessimistic thoughts I often have?
- "Who am I to think that I'm the one to have some impact?" (in the context of research)
- Well, the answer is a combination of having had such great resources to learn and grow up to now, and my current position with access to so many smart people to learn from. This suggests spending some time being grateful
- Being daunted by how much there is out there. How can I ever learn it all? How can I tell which are the interesting directions to push?
- In terms of learning it all, of course that's impossible. What I need instead though is a mindset shift from: "anything not learned is a loss" to "anything learned is a win"
- I often convince myself that learning what's not optimal is a loss. But really, learning anything well is likely going to be beneficial at some point down the line, even if I can't recognize it now
- In terms of interesting directions to push... that's a much more difficult issue.
- Maybe the answer is just: whichever direction you have momentum in.
- In terms of learning it all, of course that's impossible. What I need instead though is a mindset shift from: "anything not learned is a loss" to "anything learned is a win"