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The Over-Optimization Trap: What Every Self-Development Guy Should Beware Of

#1 · October 31, 2023, 10:07 pm

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on October 31, 2023, 10:07 pm
This is something all of us here can easily fall into.
I know I have, I still do, and will probably keep doing so in the future :D.
Any driven person who is into self-development is a prime target for it.
I think it deserves its own article, but basically the "over-optimization trap" is this:
to (over)-spend time and resources learning and implementing >1%-level hacks that aren't worth the investment you put into learning and implementing it
Basically, at this level of low-returns, almost anything else you'd do with that time would be better for you (unless it's actively harmful, of course).
Including... Just doing nothing (or watching a movie/playing a game).
As a matter of fact, once you reach a certain level of "business" in life, adding "chill and do nothing time" may be a much better investment of that time to recharge batteries and better enjoy life.
And the issue with the "optimization porn" culture is that a lot of those hacks concern 1 percents.
In my opinion, in some cases, optimization porn is escapism and a subconscious need to feel fill voids and feel like one is doing things and working and advancing. But that's psychologizing speculation so let's skip for now.
Over-optimization example
As an example, imagine all the various "longevity hacks".
One of them maybe to:
buy a lamp to simulate outside sunshine for whenever it's cloudy -or for those who live in northern emispheres-.
On paper, it makes sense.
And for some people, it may be worthwhile indeed.
But as for everything, a lot of people who don't even that all that much will be swayed by the promises of scientific betterment and go for it -and they may have used that time with even bigger returns with their spouse, friends, puppy... Or finding one of those-.
So you go for it and spend time learning and researching the science, then selecting a good lamp.
Most likely, you won't keep up with it for a long time, so it ends up as waste-consuming junk that reminds you that you're not following up on things.
But you busy yourself chasing the next "hack" so you can tell yourself you're optimizing life.
In the unlikely event that you keep up with it, you spend 10 minutes a day on it for the next 50 winters of your life.
Result:
IF the science turns out to be true (for you), you end up living 7 days longer.
Sounds like it may be a win.
But....
You ended up spending 3 months of time sitting in front of that lamp.
All the while, there may be another version of you who never got into that lamp-hack thing.
But that version of you went out despite the rain and clouds and in one of those days met a great lady.
You ended intimate, and maybe... Even living longer because of the more enriching experience and "living life to the fullest" approach.
Or maye that other version of you just chilled or met friends.
But still ended up happier because of that more carefree approach.
Even if you don't live longer, the life quality of the "life to the full" and/or carefree approach may still make it overall better.

This is something all of us here can easily fall into.

I know I have, I still do, and will probably keep doing so in the future :D.

Any driven person who is into self-development is a prime target for it.

I think it deserves its own article, but basically the "over-optimization trap" is this:

to (over)-spend time and resources learning and implementing >1%-level hacks that aren't worth the investment you put into learning and implementing it

Basically, at this level of low-returns, almost anything else you'd do with that time would be better for you (unless it's actively harmful, of course).

Including... Just doing nothing (or watching a movie/playing a game).

As a matter of fact, once you reach a certain level of "business" in life, adding "chill and do nothing time" may be a much better investment of that time to recharge batteries and better enjoy life.

And the issue with the "optimization porn" culture is that a lot of those hacks concern 1 percents.

In my opinion, in some cases, optimization porn is escapism and a subconscious need to feel fill voids and feel like one is doing things and working and advancing. But that's psychologizing speculation so let's skip for now.

Over-optimization example

As an example, imagine all the various "longevity hacks".

One of them maybe to:

buy a lamp to simulate outside sunshine for whenever it's cloudy -or for those who live in northern emispheres-.

On paper, it makes sense.

And for some people, it may be worthwhile indeed.

But as for everything, a lot of people who don't even that all that much will be swayed by the promises of scientific betterment and go for it -and they may have used that time with even bigger returns with their spouse, friends, puppy... Or finding one of those-.

So you go for it and spend time learning and researching the science, then selecting a good lamp.

Most likely, you won't keep up with it for a long time, so it ends up as waste-consuming junk that reminds you that you're not following up on things.
But you busy yourself chasing the next "hack" so you can tell yourself you're optimizing life.

In the unlikely event that you keep up with it, you spend 10 minutes a day on it for the next 50 winters of your life.

Result:

IF the science turns out to be true (for you), you end up living 7 days longer.

Sounds like it may be a win.

But....

You ended up spending 3 months of time sitting in front of that lamp.

All the while, there may be another version of you who never got into that lamp-hack thing.

But that version of you went out despite the rain and clouds and in one of those days met a great lady.

You ended intimate, and maybe... Even living longer because of the more enriching experience and "living life to the fullest" approach.

Or maye that other version of you just chilled or met friends.
But still ended up happier because of that more carefree approach.

Even if you don't live longer, the life quality of the "life to the full" and/or carefree approach may still make it overall better.

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#2 · October 31, 2023, 10:09 pm

If anyone has any comment, experience or thought on this, please do let me know.

I think it may be worth an article.
But if it doesn't resonate with anyone... Maybe it's not worth an article :D

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#3 · October 31, 2023, 10:52 pm

Totally! I remember when I got my first smartphone. I thought that making to do lists for everything, tracking the time that I needed for doing everything, measuring every quantifiable dimension of my life, and having a billion apps for different tasks (one for reading, another for taking notes, another for storing notes...) was the key to save more time, to be more effective in work and hobbies, to unlock my creativity...

And, as a result, I spent whole days looking at my smartphone :D

This is the most extreme example, but things like these still happen from time to time

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#4 · November 1, 2023, 7:04 am

Quote from Gguwad on November 1, 2023, 7:04 am
It's best here in my opinion to go with 80:20 rule, that is 20% of the most effective actions bring the 80% of results.
As you said overoptimization doesn't give one much, it may even be detrimental in that you don't have much time to rest ( which is also essential to absorb hard concepts ) as one is compulsively looking for new tips and tricks to do something better.
For example I type fast ( 100WPM+ ) and I decided that if I was typing even faster I would be even more productive, so I trained a lot but after this speed, it's hard to really improve and even then, I am a programmer, most of the time I think, not type, so I saw that indeed, even though it will make me more productive it will take too long to make sense, and even then it will barely bring any returns.
It's best to go for the few core principles and assure one is consistent with them, for example if one wants to be healthy he takes those rules: train every few days, walk everyday few kilometers, buy and eat generally healthy food, sleep 7 hours and they will already have very good health.
One can still read about such things every now and then to see if there is something that he can do to easily improve, but that's already an extra that depends if you enjoy improving or not, you don't have to do it neither there is any reason to feel that you need to do it.
I was minmaxing for a long time and it amazed me how others were still competitive while spending a lot time on games and fun and barely using half of tricks I used. Now I know why: As long as one is consistent in things that matter the most, they will go very far.
Even further than a person that spends his time minmaxing. Why? Because let's say for a programmer, what is important is being able to know your tools, programming languages, new technologies to make the job easier and have critical thinking skills.
Even if you spend hours on getting 100 hacks, ultimately a person who in this time chills and has energy to go for hard things like new technology in one step will blow you out of the water.
That's because it's waste of time, what truly matters are skills that are hard, skills that give you an advantage that is hard to cross, that's advantage that truly matters because what is hard gives the biggest returns.
The exception if your job is simple, let's say there is not much to improve fundamentally, a good example are games, they are far simpler than real life so you can grasp the whole system and start minmaxing, as there is not much else to do, but in real life, there is absurd amount of things one can improve, both hard and easy, so there's never a problem of one running out of things to get better at to reach his goals.

It's best here in my opinion to go with 80:20 rule, that is 20% of the most effective actions bring the 80% of results.

As you said overoptimization doesn't give one much, it may even be detrimental in that you don't have much time to rest ( which is also essential to absorb hard concepts ) as one is compulsively looking for new tips and tricks to do something better.

For example I type fast ( 100WPM+ ) and I decided that if I was typing even faster I would be even more productive, so I trained a lot but after this speed, it's hard to really improve and even then, I am a programmer, most of the time I think, not type, so I saw that indeed, even though it will make me more productive it will take too long to make sense, and even then it will barely bring any returns.

It's best to go for the few core principles and assure one is consistent with them, for example if one wants to be healthy he takes those rules: train every few days, walk everyday few kilometers, buy and eat generally healthy food, sleep 7 hours and they will already have very good health.

One can still read about such things every now and then to see if there is something that he can do to easily improve, but that's already an extra that depends if you enjoy improving or not, you don't have to do it neither there is any reason to feel that you need to do it.

I was minmaxing for a long time and it amazed me how others were still competitive while spending a lot time on games and fun and barely using half of tricks I used. Now I know why: As long as one is consistent in things that matter the most, they will go very far.

Even further than a person that spends his time minmaxing. Why? Because let's say for a programmer, what is important is being able to know your tools, programming languages, new technologies to make the job easier and have critical thinking skills.

Even if you spend hours on getting 100 hacks, ultimately a person who in this time chills and has energy to go for hard things like new technology in one step will blow you out of the water.

That's because it's waste of time, what truly matters are skills that are hard, skills that give you an advantage that is hard to cross, that's advantage that truly matters because what is hard gives the biggest returns.

The exception if your job is simple, let's say there is not much to improve fundamentally, a good example are games, they are far simpler than real life so you can grasp the whole system and start minmaxing, as there is not much else to do, but in real life, there is absurd amount of things one can improve, both hard and easy, so there's never a problem of one running out of things to get better at to reach his goals.

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#5 · November 1, 2023, 9:52 am

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on November 1, 2023, 9:52 am
Quote from Kavalier on October 31, 2023, 10:52 pm
Totally! I remember when I got my first smartphone. I thought that making to do lists for everything, tracking the time that I needed for doing everything, measuring every quantifiable dimension of my life, and having a billion apps for different tasks (one for reading, another for taking notes, another for storing notes...) was the key to save more time, to be more effective in work and hobbies, to unlock my creativity...
And, as a result, I spent whole days looking at my smartphone 😀
This is the most extreme example, but things like these still happen from time to time
Yeah, same here, went through a phase of those as well :).
Even got hooked to the track sleeping, but luckily managed to ditch that within a few days (has a negative effect in my opinion, the watch telling you "how well you slept" instead of you getting up and doing your things no matter what, and then maybe napping if needed).
Quote from DGX37 on November 1, 2023, 7:04 am
It's best here in my opinion to go with 80:20 rule, that is 20% of the most effective actions bring the 80% of results.
(...)
It's best to go for the few core principles and assure one is consistent with them, for example if one wants to be healthy he takes those rules: train every few days, walk everyday few kilometers, buy and eat generally healthy food, sleep 7 hours and they will already have very good health.
One can still read about such things every now and then to see if there is something that he can do to easily improve, but that's already an extra that depends if you enjoy improving or not, you don't have to do it neither there is any reason to feel that you need to do it.
Yep, totally agree.
Doing the 80% well in my opinion takes you even further than just the 80%.
You're at the 80% simply by avoiding the harmful parts and doing the foundations "just good enough" like:
Avoid smoking
Avoid constant junk diet
Avoid obesity
Manage stress / anger / overly negative emotions within acceptable levels
Do the basics of healthy diet, exercise, enough sleep, good relationships / social life
Do those basics well, and you're as maximized as you can be (I originally wrote "you're at 95%", but I think that's exactly part of the trap: that we all have a drive to push things forward till "100% and beyond" while instead you're pretty much already there and chasing all the other hacks once you're doing well is more likely to take you back, rather than forward).
At that point, it makes a lot more sense to shift focus from optimization to reaping the benefits, living a good life, and moving onto other areas (including hard skills as you mention and becoming an expert at your job).
Of course, exceptions always apply.
One can gain a lot by addressing a specific lack they may have and that's not often addressed by most doctors and/or mainstream -ie.: breath from the mouth, lack a specific compound, finding a sub-clinical intolerance to certain foods with own testing, etc.-.
So for those, listening to some hack/optimizing gurus/podcasts can help indeed -and of course, listening to those podcasts/gurus without chasing every single hack they propose is also totally fine as you say-.
P.S.:
Funny, I also went through a phase of working to "maximize my typing speed".
I even ended up putting my typing speed in my CV at the beginning of my career and hat to defend against a power move from an early boss who laughed at it with a tone of "that's ridiculous". Not a cool power move, but he had a point.

Quote from Kavalier on October 31, 2023, 10:52 pm
Totally! I remember when I got my first smartphone. I thought that making to do lists for everything, tracking the time that I needed for doing everything, measuring every quantifiable dimension of my life, and having a billion apps for different tasks (one for reading, another for taking notes, another for storing notes...) was the key to save more time, to be more effective in work and hobbies, to unlock my creativity...
And, as a result, I spent whole days looking at my smartphone 😀
This is the most extreme example, but things like these still happen from time to time

Yeah, same here, went through a phase of those as well :).

Even got hooked to the track sleeping, but luckily managed to ditch that within a few days (has a negative effect in my opinion, the watch telling you "how well you slept" instead of you getting up and doing your things no matter what, and then maybe napping if needed).

Quote from DGX37 on November 1, 2023, 7:04 am
It's best here in my opinion to go with 80:20 rule, that is 20% of the most effective actions bring the 80% of results.
(...)
It's best to go for the few core principles and assure one is consistent with them, for example if one wants to be healthy he takes those rules: train every few days, walk everyday few kilometers, buy and eat generally healthy food, sleep 7 hours and they will already have very good health.
One can still read about such things every now and then to see if there is something that he can do to easily improve, but that's already an extra that depends if you enjoy improving or not, you don't have to do it neither there is any reason to feel that you need to do it.

Yep, totally agree.

Doing the 80% well in my opinion takes you even further than just the 80%.

You're at the 80% simply by avoiding the harmful parts and doing the foundations "just good enough" like:

Avoid smoking
Avoid constant junk diet
Avoid obesity
Manage stress / anger / overly negative emotions within acceptable levels
Do the basics of healthy diet, exercise, enough sleep, good relationships / social life

Do those basics well, and you're as maximized as you can be (I originally wrote "you're at 95%", but I think that's exactly part of the trap: that we all have a drive to push things forward till "100% and beyond" while instead you're pretty much already there and chasing all the other hacks once you're doing well is more likely to take you back, rather than forward).

At that point, it makes a lot more sense to shift focus from optimization to reaping the benefits, living a good life, and moving onto other areas (including hard skills as you mention and becoming an expert at your job).

Of course, exceptions always apply.
One can gain a lot by addressing a specific lack they may have and that's not often addressed by most doctors and/or mainstream -ie.: breath from the mouth, lack a specific compound, finding a sub-clinical intolerance to certain foods with own testing, etc.-.
So for those, listening to some hack/optimizing gurus/podcasts can help indeed -and of course, listening to those podcasts/gurus without chasing every single hack they propose is also totally fine as you say-.

P.S.:
Funny, I also went through a phase of working to "maximize my typing speed".
I even ended up putting my typing speed in my CV at the beginning of my career and hat to defend against a power move from an early boss who laughed at it with a tone of "that's ridiculous". Not a cool power move, but he had a point.

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#6 · November 1, 2023, 12:02 pm

Quote from J Les on November 1, 2023, 12:02 pm
This is a great thought and an article might be worth spending some time on
In "How to Master the Art of Selling" by Tom Hopkins, there is a very similar thought being present.
Namely, "I must do the most productive thing possible at any given moment."
However, it then gets clarified, that the most productive thing in a particular moment could be - spending time with family, playing your favourite sport or doing your favourite hobby or taking the time to have a walk.
The over-optimization trap of chasing the smallest of gains is certainly a trap I've fallen into in the past. Being able to let go of smaller things and say no to them, so that one can focus on what's important, is probably the most important skill nowadays, as far as my thinking goes. Especially with the amount of content and constant bombardment with news, advertising and the use of AI to generate long and short pieces of (somewhat) valuable creative. But is this content more valuable to any particular individual at that point in time than anything else? That's the hard question nowadays!
I'll be the first one to put up my hand that I have ended up in a "doom scrolling cycle", even despite knowing its not the best, not most productive I can be. Sure, its entertainment, but its so easy to lose control of time and quality of the content being consumed... The algorithm is there to pull you in and keep you there, and everyone is attempting to pull you in a certain sense. So it is down to the individual to choose - what is the most productive for me right now?
On the same note, I have found making decisions which links in PU to follow or whether to stick to the main course/skip the (optional) case studies and further reading, I make unnecessarily difficult for myself... Would love some input on this one specifically, especially on the mindset level, which an article on could help massively with.
PS. I've done typing speed training as well as speed reading training. What I've found so far is that there is a massive difference between typing quickly and knowing what to type and how to dress it properly (which is where PU comes in). At some point the writing speed is no longer the limiting factor. Similarly, there is a massive difference between scanning through something, speed reading through something, comprehending something in-depth, remembering and recalling something at will after reading and shifting ones mindset and approach as a result of the reading input. The question is what is it that we are trying to achieve and what is the limit factor that needs addressing as the biggest throttle neck to making it ones life the life one want its to be.
In short - would a full article on this, but that's just my two cents.

This is a great thought and an article might be worth spending some time on

In "How to Master the Art of Selling" by Tom Hopkins, there is a very similar thought being present.
Namely, "I must do the most productive thing possible at any given moment."
However, it then gets clarified, that the most productive thing in a particular moment could be - spending time with family, playing your favourite sport or doing your favourite hobby or taking the time to have a walk.

The over-optimization trap of chasing the smallest of gains is certainly a trap I've fallen into in the past. Being able to let go of smaller things and say no to them, so that one can focus on what's important, is probably the most important skill nowadays, as far as my thinking goes. Especially with the amount of content and constant bombardment with news, advertising and the use of AI to generate long and short pieces of (somewhat) valuable creative. But is this content more valuable to any particular individual at that point in time than anything else? That's the hard question nowadays!

I'll be the first one to put up my hand that I have ended up in a "doom scrolling cycle", even despite knowing its not the best, not most productive I can be. Sure, its entertainment, but its so easy to lose control of time and quality of the content being consumed... The algorithm is there to pull you in and keep you there, and everyone is attempting to pull you in a certain sense. So it is down to the individual to choose - what is the most productive for me right now?

On the same note, I have found making decisions which links in PU to follow or whether to stick to the main course/skip the (optional) case studies and further reading, I make unnecessarily difficult for myself... Would love some input on this one specifically, especially on the mindset level, which an article on could help massively with.

PS. I've done typing speed training as well as speed reading training. What I've found so far is that there is a massive difference between typing quickly and knowing what to type and how to dress it properly (which is where PU comes in). At some point the writing speed is no longer the limiting factor. Similarly, there is a massive difference between scanning through something, speed reading through something, comprehending something in-depth, remembering and recalling something at will after reading and shifting ones mindset and approach as a result of the reading input. The question is what is it that we are trying to achieve and what is the limit factor that needs addressing as the biggest throttle neck to making it ones life the life one want its to be.

In short - would a full article on this, but that's just my two cents.

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#7 · November 1, 2023, 1:24 pm

Great points, J Les!

Yes, funny enough, being a great optimizer would actually mean when to stop optimizing for the smallest stuff.

To "optimize effective" would mean "optimize for the bottom line", not optimizing for optimization's sake.

So for someone who wants to do well in life and achieve goals while also having a good life, that optimization must include when to quit chasing optimization hacks and tools and just chill/enjoy life.

Quote from J Les on November 1, 2023, 12:02 pm
Especially with the amount of content and constant bombardment with news, advertising and the use of AI to generate long and short pieces of (somewhat) valuable creative. But is this content more valuable to any particular individual at that point in time than anything else? That's the hard question nowadays!

True.

OFF-TOPIC

Slightly off-topic, but I also see the proliferation of somewhat valuable/good content as a disservice to the audience.

For example, Seth Godin (covertly) brags of having posted every day for I don't remember how many years.

I'm sure most of those posts are somewhat valuable.
But... How about you stop that nonsense, collect your thoughts, and publish something that's a bit better, but once a week?

Unluckily though, it may be be necessary to put out a lot of content to build an audience.

So worth keeping in mind: the incentives and interests of creators and consumers may intrinsically misalign (and I'm afraid that includes me while trying to post 15 shorts a month on YB :) .

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#8 · November 9, 2023, 10:26 am

Good example of over-indulging in optimization porn VS being more pragmatic/effective:

Edit:

Funny he was saying that to Tom Bilyeu, who in my opinion is a major promoter of over-optimization and nonsense hack/diet fads.

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#9 · November 16, 2023, 4:17 pm

Quote from J Les on November 16, 2023, 4:17 pm
Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on November 1, 2023, 1:24 pm
Great points, J Les!
Yes, funny enough, being a great optimizer would actually mean when to stop optimizing for the smallest stuff.
To "optimize effective" would mean "optimize for the bottom line", not optimizing for optimization's sake.
So for someone who wants to do well in life and achieve goals while also having a good life, that optimization must include when to quit chasing optimization hacks and tools and just chill/enjoy life.
Quote from J Les on November 1, 2023, 12:02 pm
Especially with the amount of content and constant bombardment with news, advertising and the use of AI to generate long and short pieces of (somewhat) valuable creative. But is this content more valuable to any particular individual at that point in time than anything else? That's the hard question nowadays!
True.
OFF-TOPIC
Slightly off-topic, but I also see the proliferation of somewhat valuable/good content as a disservice to the audience.
For example, Seth Godin (covertly) brags of having posted every day for I don't remember how many years.
I'm sure most of those posts are somewhat valuable.
But... How about you stop that nonsense, collect your thoughts, and publish something that's a bit better, but once a week?
Unluckily though, it may be be necessary to put out a lot of content to build an audience.
So worth keeping in mind: the incentives and interests of creators and consumers may intrinsically misalign (and I'm afraid that includes me while trying to post 15 shorts a month on YB 🙂 .
The slight off topic jogged my memory of a specific research article where audiences were asked about the quality/value of specific content that was split into three major categories. From memory:
- presence maintenance
-mundane day to day
- actual value pieces
Not sure where the article was, but I found it rather insightful at the time!
Back to the core topic - great short with Alex - I saw that and laughed myself the other day!
I guess the core question is, and always has been, what does any one individual prioritise NOW so they have the life they want to/choose to have. It just harder to answer as more and more options proliferate around in everyone's life...

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on November 1, 2023, 1:24 pm
Great points, J Les!
Yes, funny enough, being a great optimizer would actually mean when to stop optimizing for the smallest stuff.
To "optimize effective" would mean "optimize for the bottom line", not optimizing for optimization's sake.
So for someone who wants to do well in life and achieve goals while also having a good life, that optimization must include when to quit chasing optimization hacks and tools and just chill/enjoy life.
Quote from J Les on November 1, 2023, 12:02 pm
Especially with the amount of content and constant bombardment with news, advertising and the use of AI to generate long and short pieces of (somewhat) valuable creative. But is this content more valuable to any particular individual at that point in time than anything else? That's the hard question nowadays!
True.
OFF-TOPIC
Slightly off-topic, but I also see the proliferation of somewhat valuable/good content as a disservice to the audience.
For example, Seth Godin (covertly) brags of having posted every day for I don't remember how many years.
I'm sure most of those posts are somewhat valuable.
But... How about you stop that nonsense, collect your thoughts, and publish something that's a bit better, but once a week?
Unluckily though, it may be be necessary to put out a lot of content to build an audience.
So worth keeping in mind: the incentives and interests of creators and consumers may intrinsically misalign (and I'm afraid that includes me while trying to post 15 shorts a month on YB 🙂 .

The slight off topic jogged my memory of a specific research article where audiences were asked about the quality/value of specific content that was split into three major categories. From memory:
- presence maintenance
-mundane day to day
- actual value pieces

Not sure where the article was, but I found it rather insightful at the time!

Back to the core topic - great short with Alex - I saw that and laughed myself the other day!

I guess the core question is, and always has been, what does any one individual prioritise NOW so they have the life they want to/choose to have. It just harder to answer as more and more options proliferate around in everyone's life...

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