Logic can only help you achieve your goals, not set them
Today, a quickie on the respective values of logic vs. emotion (intuition).
At one point, a person I know turned down an offer to work for my company in
favour of an offer at Google. He had worked both with me and for Google at
different points in the past, so he knew a lot about both choices. Our job
offer was competitive with Google's in terms of salary and benefits, and as
a bonus, he wouldn't have to relocate to a foreign country as with Google.
Still, after a lot of deliberation, he went with Google, and I encouraged
him to. Why?
Because he felt like it.
You can't argue with logic like that. You shouldn't try. The reason is
simple: because doing what you feel like makes you happy. Doing what you
don't feel like doesn't make you happy. And that's just the
end of it. No amount of thinking it through will change those basic facts.
Unfortunately, a lot of people don't know what they feel like doing; they
don't know what they want out of life, and they certainly don't know why.
So they try to figure it out. That's where consumerism, among other
things, comes from (weird article
about escaping from consumerism). "I don't know which job will make me
happier, so I'll take the one with the higher salary." "Maybe if I had a
bigger house or a nicer car or whiter teeth, then I could be happy." If
those things will actually make you happier (and if you're honest
with yourself, you already know if they will), then that's it; you win. But
if you don't know anything that will make you happier, and you're
trying to choose on an "objective" basis, then you'll lose for sure.
This problem - overthinking your desires - is surprisingly widespread, not
just among programmers, but for almost everyone. Programmers happen to be
especially stubborn at rationalizing, so they sound more convincing than
most, but it's all the same game.
So what is logic good for, then? It's good for achieving your
desires. If you're honestly having trouble deciding which of two job offers
makes you feel better, maybe you honestly don't like either of them.
Maybe, regardless of how objectively great they both sound, neither is
subjectively good at all.
When that happens - and this is a last resort for only that case -
then you can use logic. First, imagine what you want your life to be
like. It can be anything you want. Seriously. Imagine it in excruciating
detail. Then figure out, in just as much excruciating detail, all the steps
you'll have to take to get there. If you do this exercise properly, all the
way back to the present, then you'll know what to do next. You'll have
figured it out using logic, but that's okay, because your logic was guided
by emotion, not the other way around.
--
For more on logic vs. intuition vs. several other human attributes you can
combine for use in decision making, you might want to read the book On
Equilibrium by John Ralston Saul. It has lots of big words, but it's
enlightening.
Also beware that if you believe what I've said above, you probably now
believe in fluffy emotional stuff called the Law of Attraction.
Hope you don't mind. If you're like me, you'll find the traditional
explanations of it (eg. follow the link) unbelievable and silly, but what
I've said here is just a sanitized translation, honest.
May 1, 2008 21:11
