what do you optimize for
I think I did something illegal.
I bought a cargo e-bike to cycle with my son to his school. It came from the US with a neat 500W motor, only that its power is reduced to 250W on the EU market. And oh boy, Lisbon is a hilly place. The gravity works against me too – the combined weight of me, my kid, and the bike is around 140 kg. So I found a way to tamper with the controller settings and unleash the bike’s full potential. I’m not proud of bending the rules, but now the bike is optimized for the realities of our daily commute. No more huffing and puffing.
It made me think about optimization.
What are we optimized for
First, it reminded me that biology did not optimize us for happiness and thriving. It did so for survival. And not our survival, but that of our species. Fear has a much higher priority over contentment and pleasure. This is because for most human history fear kept us safe from predators. We couldn’t afford to ignore a danger because it could cost us life. But we could easily afford to miss on a moment of happiness. There are no immediate consequences for that.
The moral of this predicament is that if we want to thrive emotionally, we need to circumvent the evolutionary forces.
What do I optimize for
The second insight is more personal. Lately, over a few hours, I took a deep dive into myself. One avenue of self-discovery included questioning what I am optimizing for in my day to day trenches. After a while a realization stroke me: I’m optimizing for extraction. Nothing that should surprise me here, but it was a deeply felt recognition nonetheless.
And here’s what I mean by extraction: I saw how I pack as much as possible into every day. How often I’m dissatisfied that I haven’t done enough. I’m not calibrated to appreciation and feeling, but to acquiring and getting things done. So that I can move on to doing even more things! A good example is buying a fast e-scooter so that I can get to places quicker. I’m extracting as much as possible from every moment and every situation. Every minute is a lemon and I squeeze every last drop of it.
Speaking of lemon, it was a bitter realization. But it was a precious insight too. I felt that I am fully capable of calibrating settings in my internal “controller” and it’s about time to do that. Just like optimizing my bike for hilly terrain, now I want to optimize my life to a different parameter. And this parameter, or quality, is relationships. Relating to myself, to my family, friends, to the reality, to here and now. I know this will not come into my life just by wanting it. So I’m employing various tools and strategies to reassess my priorities, goals, and to bring accountability. And by writing this, I’m now also accountable to you.
And how about you,
What do you optimize for?
This post flows with Alamaailman Vasarat - Mamelukki & Musta Leski
