This is part 11 of 30 of Hammertime. Click here for the intro.

CFAR has an underlying mantra “adjust your seat”: systematically modify every technique and class to fit your personal situation. It’s common sense nowadays that different things work for different people, but the extent to which is true still constantly surprises me. (Kierkegaard had a fun take on adjusting your seat which he called the Method of Rotation.)

If you wish to partake in Hammertime, feel free to adjust your seat as much as necessary. Draw out the practice of instrumental rationality over a longer period of time, pick and choose the methods that appeal to you, and scale them to your time constraints.

Hammertime: The Second Cycle

Hammertime is about cultivating a tiny number of powerful techniques for solving a huge variety of problems. In the second cycle, we will revisit and upgrade the tools we introduced in the first, and apply them to tougher problems:

Bug Hunt
Yoda Timers
TAPs and Reinforcement Learning
Design
CoZE
Focusing
Cruxes
Goal Factoring
Internal Double Crux
Self-Trust

The new ideas we will be introducing in the second half are devoted to developing higher levels of introspection and self-honesty, to figure out your true motivations and aversions, and what to do about them.

Before each post in the second cycle, take a moment to review its predecessor.

Day 11: Bug Hunt 2

Previously: Day 1.

Noticing your bugs continues to be our single most powerful technique. Training noticing involves lateral thinking, attention to detail, and self-honesty. Today, we focus on three high-level ways in which human beings systematically err.

Setup

First, review your Bug List from Day 1 and update it.

For each of the next three mini-essays: read it over, then set a Yoda Timer for five minutes and brainstorm as many bugs as you can during that time.

1. Identity

Paul Graham wrote Keep Your Identity Small. Being attached to your identity can often constrain your growth.

Rather than making an impartial decision on what kind of person to be, people often extrapolate their identity (and morality) from their previous actions. A friend of mine calls this coprolite: fossilized and over-fitted beliefs that originate from early childhood. Are you neat or messy, stingy or generous, introvert or extrovert, conscientious or agreeable, idealistic or cynical, engineer or artist, vim or emacs? Do you look down on people for being the other way? Take moment to notice all the traits you’re attached to, think about why you’re attached to them, and consider the benefits of their opposites.

Personalities are many-faceted, and you may not even understand your true motives, fears, or skills. Do your stated preferences agree with your revealed preferences? Do your aliefs differ from your beliefs? Do people systematically judge you to be different from your self-image? Do you often surprise yourself in terms of what you enjoy, excel at, or are anxious about?

It’s useful to think of personality growth as expansion rather than change. An introvert grows by learning how to navigate social scenes. An extrovert grows by reclaiming her capacity to be alone. Instead of asking what you would change about yourself, ask what you would add to the toolbox.

2. Pica

Pica is an eating disorder in which people crave food that don’t fulfill the need behind that craving; the folklore example is gnawing on ice to satisfy a mineral deficiency. Experiential pica is any craving which doesn’t fulfill the need behind it.

My top three addictions in high school were all experiential pica.

The first addiction was romantic novels and shows of a tragic nature, which served as vulnerability and sacrifice porn. I had intricate daydreams in multiple languages of love and loss.

The second addiction was RPG games, which served as improvement porn. In Diablo III, the Gem of Ease that boosts your leveling speed on all future characters to go from 1 to 70 in about an hour; I’d start a new character every couple months to get watch the level up messages roll in. MOBAs are perhaps the worst offender in this regard, taking your character from level 1 to fully equipped level 18 every single game.

The third addiction was just …

I know these are pica because the first and third cravings largely subsided when I entered a committed relationship, and the second when I started seriously working on self-improvement.

Lent is a good time to look for your pica. Are there any habits, cravings, or addictions you don’t understand and/or try hard to cut? If they’re pica, you’re applying effort at the wrong angle. Figure out the unmet need, meet it, and the pica will automatically subside.

3. Ambition

I’ve been jogging casually for about fifteen years. Until last year, it’s been uniformly awful. You’d think you’d get used to running four miles after doing it twice a week for a decade. You’d be wrong.

Then, I decided to aim at something.

I thought: I’m going to train for a seven minute mile.

My heart replied: Oh, ok, that’s kind of invigorating.

Then I thought: I’ll train for a six minute mile.

My heart: Woo baby, let’s do this!

Then I thought: A five minute mile.

My heart: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…

I ran for over a decade with next to no improvement. Last month I ran a seven minute mile after two months of training for an impossible goal. These days I look forward to running.

I’ve been blogging casually for about five years. Until last year, it’s been a drag. You’d think you’d get better at writing by putting up two posts a month for a year or two. You’d be wrong.

Then, I decided to aim at something.

Me: I’ll try blogging once a week.

My heart: Oh, ok, that’s nice.

Me: I’m going to blog every other day.

My heart: Now we’re getting somewhere.

Me: I’m going to blog every day for a year, and write better than Eliezer Yudkowsky by the end of it.

My heart: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…

There’s a level of ambition that pushes you to operate at maximal efficiency, that twists your heart with adrenaline just to think about. In every pursuit, aim at a target so high it feels immodest to whisper in an empty room.

List your goals now. Keep doubling them in difficulty until your heart bends over in hysterical laughter at the very thought.

Daily Challenge

State your greatest ambition: the one that feels most subjectively immodest.