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  • > Both of these examples demonstrate a process, or a decision made in advance

    A decision made in advance is not a process. Unlike all the other real-world examples of committed processes in the article, premade decisions don't require discipline - the actual substitute for motivation - to execute in a meaningful way that ensures actual progress.

    by nlawalker
  • > The ‘optimal’ approach would be to check traffic, analyze the data, and shave off five minutes from my journey.

    Why not letting Google Maps decide?

    by hartator
  • I think I would avocate actually against processes. Processes are nice, handy, and sage, but that assumes you have unlimited time. A baby crying and death approaching really make you rethinking useless 1-1s and meetings.
    by hartator
  • > ... I would just have a rule which I had to follow.

    I don't mean to be a downer, but to prevent anxiety I try not to be so strict with myself.

    A process can be freeing at first, but eventually the idea can seep in that I'm missing out, wasting precious time on earth, or that I'm "trapped". Nothing triggers a panic attack quite like depersonalization/derealization.

    I try to question whether my motivations are covering up fear. I don't want to be so afraid of decision fatigue that it locks me into even more misery.

    Anyway it's for that reason that I treat processes as recommendations instead of rules. At the crossroads, I'd prefer visualizing a blue star or green checkmark projected onto the turn. Like a GPS, I'm totally free to ignore it and force it to recalculate the route. Now it's a fun adventure when I deviate instead of "breaking the rules".

    e.g. "You broke the rule! Now something bad will happen!" vs "I wonder what's new since the last time I came this way"

    Huge difference.

    by sublinear
  • This is a good one. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if the made decision is suboptimal. It’s better than no decision.

    Opinionated linters is an example.

    Sometimes you just gotta turn your brain off and move forward.

    by aleksiy123
  • I think the strongest version of this idea is that process is basically a way of spending willpower once instead of repeatedly
    by Pawenniag
  • > I was burdened with the mental labour of making this decision

    But why, I always enjoyed having a choice. I also drove for a long time with several roads to choose, and I liked that each time I could like "naah, the sunset must be better on that road tonight, let's check it out" or "hopefully there's some fog going down the slopes today on another road". It's not labour, it was fun to play, kept out of boredom. Sometimes I even took roads that took longer just to have something new.

    I believe you dread choices only when you try to min-max your life, overoptimizing every single choice. Just relax and let the life go its way.

    by deepsun
  • This is a really well-written short article, and I agree with it completely.

    I just wanted to add as well that, as someone who has read quite a lot of books on self-help and productivity, there is one that makes a lot of similar points: "Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts--Becoming the Person You Want to Be"

    https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/22544758-triggers

    I recommend it to anyone who agrees with this article and feels like a book-length treatment of similar ideas would be helpful to them.

    by senkora

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