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Analects
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wealth-architecture
Wealth Architecture
stuff On the means of life
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article
Our brain clusters things that are similar to each other together. This
includes ideas and the words we attach to them. If your words are attached to
the wrong ideas, you’re going to struggle to make the connection for them.
Language is a barrier to communication
Article
To make the leap from someone else’s idea to your own understanding of it is
often troubled by something I call ‘the language problem’. Most of the time
this is because of a difference in experience. Knowledge is sometimes a
barrier to learning, and this is almost always related to the language
problem. Let me show you what I mean.
Our brain clusters things that are similar to each other together. This
includes ideas and the words we attach to them. If your words are attached to
the wrong ideas, you’re going to struggle to make the connection for them.
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article
Basically, reward and ancipation both use the same system, but differently.
Anticipation seems to come in through the senses and get sent throughout the
brain, but pleasure seems to come in from more evaluatey bits—maybe to help
us learn what’s rewarding.
Anticipation beats reward
Article
A lot of people reckon the brain treats rewards quite differently from the
anticipation of rewards. And, in fact, the anticipation of reward seems
like the bigger driver of our behaviour. And this little tidbit is one of
the few places where human behaviour is actually explained well by exploring
the brain. So let’s explore it.
Basically, reward and ancipation both use the same system, but differently.
Anticipation seems to come in through the senses and get sent throughout the
brain, but pleasure seems to come in from more evaluatey bits—maybe to help
us learn what’s rewarding.
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article
The neural reward circuit implies that small, rewarding tasks that share
environmental context are going to be the most addictive, so break tasks into
small steps that end in a clear good feeling and optimise for a shared
environment.
Addictive Work
Article
It’s very trendy to say stuff like ‘start your day by making your bed and
something something life is better’. But this is usually some kind of comment
about the value of small and simple acts in promoting a sense of order and
discipline. I’m not so interested in that. I’m more interested in those small
and simple acts that make you addicted to those acts. I like other things
that people say are addictive, so this sounds much more my speed, when it
comes to productivity.
The neural reward circuit implies that small, rewarding tasks that share
environmental context are going to be the most addictive, so break tasks into
small steps that end in a clear good feeling and optimise for a shared
environment.
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article
We can think of motivations in terms of three things. There is the <em>content</em>:
what things motivate us. Then there is the <em>process</em>: how things motivate us.
And lastly, we have those things that <em>maintain</em> our motivation.
Motivation pt. II: Stickytaping it all together
Article
I needed to do a little refresher on motivation for another audience, so I’m
going to subject you to it as well. It’s a messy subject, but at a high level,
there are some interesting frameworks for understanding what makes people do
things. This is part two of a two part series, where I’ll outline theories
that try to make the mess all work together, with mixed success.
We can think of motivations in terms of three things. There is the content:
what things motivate us. Then there is the process: how things motivate us.
And lastly, we have those things that maintain our motivation.
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article
Individually, the disconnected dichotomies of intrinsic vs extrinsic,
normative vs motivating, ‘cognitive’ and ‘biological’, and the like have little
utility. But when you put them together, you can get some quite juicy fidelity
on why people do what they do.
Motivation pt. I: Haphazard Dichotomies
Article
I needed to do a little refresher on motivation for another audience, so I’m
going to subject you to it as well. It’s a messy subject, but at a high level,
there are some interesting frameworks for understanding what makes people do
things. This is part one of a two part series, where I’ll outline the main
thing motivation theory has produced: a series of haphazard dichotomies. And
then I’ll show you how you can use them best.
Individually, the disconnected dichotomies of intrinsic vs extrinsic,
normative vs motivating, ‘cognitive’ and ‘biological’, and the like have little
utility. But when you put them together, you can get some quite juicy fidelity
on why people do what they do.
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