Many of us know plenty of good rationalist advice. Think longer before making decisions, look carefully for direct evidence, look to the research when it comes to seemingly-obvious high-stakes choices.
Today, I will share a piece of advice that, if I followed it religiously, would have probably made me much more productive years ago.
However, to avoid other-optimizing, I will say this meta-advice requires 3 key things to all be true at the same time:
1.You have found a piece of advice relating to some part of your life. It may be a productivity tip, a health recommendation, or a bit of career guidance. It must be relevant to your life.
2.From the evidence at hand, and your analysis, you think the advice makes sense. As in, you could imagine how it would help you in your circumstances, the advice-giver actually cites evidence of the advice working, and so on.
And most importantly…
3.You are terrified of following the advice.
In other words, if you get advice that applies to you, makes sense, and sounds difficult for you, go in. This advice is basically an idiot-proofed extension of the advice to “go outside your comfort zone” and “if it’s painful, it might be good for you”. You don’t get to weasel out of denying evidence or your own logical abilities, just to make advice simpler to remember.
But if you’re avoiding doing something with clear benefits, solely because of some akrasia lurking in your brain… do it.