OPTIMIZE OR SATISFICE, BUT DON'T MAXIMIZE!
KNOWING WHEN GETTING BETTER IS HARMFUL
In process....
This is very "gettable". Simple. But will you do it?!!!?
At a trivial, intellectual level we all "know" that going too far is going too far - in money, success, fame, etc. But we do not really know it (or grok it), for if we did we would live life based on that thing.
Even if a graduate in economics, business, philosophy or science, we do not practice what we've learned. We forget to apply the principles and the logic that we "learned".
The most important principle in life is to choose what do next that will produce the most value for our time. Simple. But...
Indeed, if you are a true master of life and not some intellectuarl or spiritual guru, you are frequently looking over the big picture of what is going on and then deciding what is the best next thing to do. That is the key skill of life (though you need a few underlying life skills to be able to do this well.)
Indeed, the true master will know that there is only one thing in life to maximize and that is life itself. (What I call "life value", which you should review and settle in your mind as to what that is for you.)
The life master thinks in terms of tradeoffs at all times because he knows that we have scarce resources, the most immutable and valuable of all being time.
He "sees" that if he does one thing he has chosen not to do another thing at that time.
He always chooses, having laid it out clearly, to do that which will return the most per amount of his time.
He is always optimizing life and not maximzing any one thing where the extra effort and time spent in maximizing that thing costs the loss of doing something of more value elsewhere.
We are taught to idealize certain things, from success, getting rich, to fame and all. But we lose all sense of reality - and we end up with it costing, often big time!
We want to become a champion in something, be "the best", get lots of money, etc. And we also take on things like goals of 7% body fat, becoming a true practitioner of some discipline (to the extreme), obeying God/doctrines without thinking of the cost tradeoff (see to gain perspective the pieces under Living A Life To Please God) , "being disciplined", being "great", being "world class", and on and on. We forget the "why" of it all and those things become our shortsighted "why"s.
All of those are fine, in theory, but in real life if we go further in any of these things we will have to give up other things. If what we give up is more valuable than what we are getting, then we are depriving ourselves, harming ourselves.
Often, though, we stop short of determining what the value of something could be. As I see PL, the life mastery seeker, benefitting from going deep and sustaining deep practice in Vipassana, the benefits of going deep and long look pretty awesome. It looks like a good bet to spend the two plus hours a day at it, but I suspect there will be a point not where it is abondoned but where what he invests in will be shifted. While it will still be a great skill to recognize sensations and to stop "reacting" to them, thus stopping "agitation", it would seem that we would have gained optimal competence in the skill at some point, so that extensive continuing practice might be "overkill". For now, it appears to be worth it and we can't know the future best moves until we arrive at those future times and inquire. So, it is a "for now" thing that he will do, as are all things we decide. (But note in his email, see his 4/23 email , how his well-being is a good indicator, with all the areas of his life going well)
We do what is best "for now". We do not learn everything we ultimately deem worth learning in life in a particular area. Instead, we learn "enough for now", as we have other areas where the time could be better invested. Essentially, we climb a spiral of "enough for now"s. We go through this also on a daily basis: "That's enough work for now and now I deem it to be of greater value to restore my body and energy" (or rejuvenate in some way, even leisure).
I want to keep writing this piece (and to make sense of it), but I am hitting a natural break point with my thinking going a bit slower and being less clear and less precsie and capable, so now the best use of my time, given the hour it is (in the afternoon), is to take a "power nap" (20 minutes, deep into relaxation, but the app awakens me if I start to fall into deep sleep, which would turn off some switches of things I want "on" and turn on some switches that shut things off, such as inducing grogginess)...and yet I still want to work on this piece, but alas I now choose. zzzzzzzzz..
How far is too far? Sometimes, it may seem extreme to some people ...
If someone says "well, that's good enough", are they wimping out, compromising, being lazy?
Maybe, maybe not.
The real question is when is "good enough" "good enough"?
We, of course, have to define "enough". And I would say "enough" stops right before "too much".
Well, we all want more, so it would seem there is no "too much".
But in the grand context of things where resources (and especially time) are limited, there is a "too much".
The "too much" is that which pushes out or subtracts in some way from something that would add higher value for the time (the "limited resource") spent.
All of this must be in terms of something...the greatest value...life.
So "optimal is the best or most favorable for a given situation. Going for "the best" is a limitless goal, without any value....
the question is "when should I stop" , the flip side of how far should I go...
criteria is: amorphous, how make it concrete??? judgment...
the real question is "good enough for now?'
Satisfice...
not knowing the value of something...
