| Hi everybody! Folks, I am collecting testimonials for Everything is a Remix! If Everything is a Remix matters to you, if it changed your life, head over here and tell me about it. Some of these will be used on the Remix site. Name and photo are required. How to stop startingI have a problem with starting. I don’t mean that I can’t get started. I mean starting too quickly and starting too much. This can produce small problems like buying software or gadgets I barely use. Or it can produce big problems like unfinished projects or worst of all, projects that are way more crazy-making than they should have been. And you’ve got the same problem. Why do I know this? Because what I’m talking about is a human bias called the action bias. The purpose of the brain isn’t just to think thoughts. Its purpose is to make things happen. Your brain wants you to do it: set that goal, buy that course, start that project. But it’s not so good at helping you achieve that goal, learn that material, or finish that project. The action bias tricks you into thinking you’re getting something done. But all you’ve really done is begin… and that’s the easy part. Impulsive starts will waste your time and resources. And if you fall prey to the action bias frequently enough, you’ll find yourself demoralized and doubting you can achieve much of anything. I got burnt by the action bias in an unusually epic way. In 2012, I was finishing the original Everything is a Remix series, which was a big success. I was hot and I wanted to capitalize. I wanted to launch something and I wanted to do it fast. I launched a KickStarter for a new series, This is Not a Conspiracy Theory. I had almost no clue what it was or what I was going to deliver or how long it would take or how much it would all cost. (How many successful KickStarters have ultimately cost the creator money? I’m guessing plenty.) This is Not a Conspiracy Theory worked out. I made the thing I wanted to make, I got to the place I wanted to go. But it took eight years and the process was far more painful than it needed to be. The premature launch made a hard project even harder because I later wasted time wracking my brains trying to solve problems that couldn’t be solved. If I’d pumped the brakes at the beginning and thought things through a bit more, I could have saved myself substantial time and a lot of misery. It often requires more energy and more discipline to not act. To wait, think things through and then act is actually harder. It’s way easier to just let it rip and make something—anything—happen. By slowing down, making sure you want to make the move you’re making and figuring out how to do it the best way you know how, you’re setting the stage for a more efficient and less painful project. You’ll start less but finish more. I have to say: this problem is a shadow of what it once was for me. The major thing that has helped has been awareness. My snap decisions stung me enough times that I got wise. I didn’t know anything about the action bias, I just learned through repeated mistakes. I’ve developed some tricks too. For instance, I create little holds for ideas and review them repeatedly. Like if there’s a new product I want to sell, I place it in a hold list and revisit it occasionally over the course of weeks or months. Most of the time I’ll eventually decide I’m not that interested in selling whatever it is. But if something survives all those revisits, I know it’s worth a shot. The practice of mindfulness has also helped with this. I’ll again admit, I’m pretty bad at mindfulness, but even doing mindfulness badly can still really improve your life. (There’s a few mindfulness book summaries in my Blinkist playlist, which is free to read or listen to. There’s also loads of other fantastic stuff in there.) The action bias is one of those things that you never banish. It’ll always return with inventive new ways to trick you. But with time, you can develop some good defense. |
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