Make decisions inside while loops
Achieving difficult goals usually requires thinking in systems. Processes over results. Execute an optimal plan for long enough, and you’re likely to accomplish The Thing.
Productivity nerds internalize Systems Are Good and Goals Are Bad to the extreme. These losers often have no idea they’ve done so until they wake up months later realizing their system has lulled them into an autopilot trance. They’ve forgotten the entire purpose their system was created for.
I know this to be true because I am one of those losers.
As a devout 80/20er I’m usually one to simplify. If Andrew Huberman spends 2 hours and 32 minutes yapping about optimal protein dosage, frequency, and delivery method, I’m asking Gemini to summarize the video. And then I’m still ignoring anything that comes with a behavior cost unless it offers an outsized return on my effort investment.
absorb(hubermanPodcast) only while benefitToMe > effortRequired
The process breaks without the condition. Listening to endless hours of scientific research that I’m going to forget 1.5 meaningful life events later is not what I want to spend hours of my AirPods battery life on.
Systems almost always require end conditions to be useful. There are very few specific things you should want to repeat for the rest of your life.
Take exercise.
Exercising for the rest of your life is a win. But you probably don’t want to be following the identical exercise routine for eternity. Instead, you probably want to schedule in some variation, or at least difficulty adjustments ala progressive overload to avoid freezing progress.
Not too long ago I realized I had been adhering to the same calorie goal for nearly a year without a second thought.
eat(2000 calories) is a reasonable goal.
repeat while weight > 185lbs: eat(2000 calories) is a better system.
Few systems within your business will last months, let alone years, without needing to be updated in response to change. Change in software, personnel, or market conditions. Now more than ever, we know it’s inevitable.
In practice this means assigning expiration dates to SOPs and best practices. An outdated process is worse than useless: it plants a seed of doubt in your entire library of company documentation.
If this doc is wrong, how can I trust any doc?
In startups this concept can apply to roles too. It’s worth revisiting if you have the right people in the right chairs on a semi-regular basis.
Treat your decisions as ongoing responsibilities. Deciding something forever is rarely optimal. Make your decisions inside while loops to keep your systems from taking you too far off course.