Problem Analysis is useful, but doesn't help!

To put it bluntly: Analyzing complex predicaments is a waste of time!

Why? Because complex predicaments belong to complex systems, which are too complex to be understood completely! Take my problem analysis from yesterday for example. Where is “the problem” located exactly? Is it that I focus too much on negative aspects? Is it that I’m unwilling to put up with suboptimal solutions? Or do I change my strategies too quickly? All of these issues add up to the complex predicament of my lack of effectiveness, but it doesn’t make sense to isolate one of those problems as “main culprit“. Analyzing complex mechanisms just shows up where something might be changed to “fix” things. But it doesn’t suggest obvious solutions!

Take psychoanalysis for example. Typically the psychoanalyst wants to find out why you have one certain problem. You might get an answer like “You have that problem, because this and that happened in your childhood.” Ok, fine, maybe, but where’s the solution to the problem? Going back in time and changing your childhood is not a viable option. “Knowing” the reason for a problem doesn’t tell you how to solve it.

Problem orientation is ineffective. Solution orientation is much better. Don’t over-analyze, seek for solutions! Surprisingly, almost anything can help. Real medicine is fine, but placebos help, too. They even help, if the patient knows that it’s just a placebo! Be creative and just imagine something that might help somehow, even if it feels unlikely. Methods that sound convincing might be much better, though. Then: Experiment! Test whether it actually helps or not. It’s that simple! Or at least almost that simple. Here’s the core scientific method for self-improvement from Patri Friedman’s talk on Lifehacking (must view!):

1. Choose Goals
2. Research Methods
3. Try Methods
4. Track Results
5. Regularly Review / Tweak

Tracking Results is totally important, because your can’t evaluate success if you don’t have the right metric for measuring success! Some metrics are pretty straightforward, like income or weight. Others are more subjective, like personal happiness ratings, but they are still way better than nothing. My metric for the goal of becoming more effective is what I call Achievement Points. I grant myself points for learning, writing and getting specific important things done. Thanks to that system I know that I have made significant progress over the last months:

The bad scores at the beginning were due to holiday laziness. Playing too much with my new smartphone possibly caused the drop in December.

I’m not really sure why my scores improved, but at least they did. And if they decrease again, I can try to replicate and improve the methods I used when I have been more successful. It’s also noteworthy that I took averages of my weekly Achievement Point scores over four weeks each, because there is too much fluctuation in the weekly scores.

For improving complex systems, like the human mind, or companies, or societies, the empirical method, based on experiments, observation and statistics, is the only really reliable approach.