Heuristics
What are heuristics?
Heuristic: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods, also: of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (such as the evaluation of feedback) to improve performance.
Life is more complex, confusing, and distracting than most people care to admit. How do we manage all of that? Human beings have always used heuristics to manage complexity. Heuristics simplify decision making, and expedite action. In Blackjack, “Double down on 11” is a heuristic. Splitting 8’s is a heuristic. Standing on hard 17 is a heuristic.
The Noble Eightfold Path is a set of Buddhist heuristics for managing the complexities of life by pursuing enlightenment.
1. Right understanding
2. Right thought
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration
The Ten Commandments are a set of heuristics for managing the complexities of life by preventing oneself from descending into chaos. The Tao Te Ching is a set of heuristics that manages complexity by using both strategies. The Stoics use the Four Cardinal Virtues to manage life’s complexities. John Wooden's "Pyramid of Success" is a set of heuristics aimed at achieving individual and team excellence. Dr. Jordan Peterson’s pair of “12 Rules For Life” books are constructed as complementary sets of heuristics for managing chaos and order to prevent either from becoming pathological.
Life is so complex and confusing that, for most of human history, people had to spend all of their time on basic survival. Our ancestors’ central preoccupations were food, water, shelter, safety, and reproduction. Through the millennia they developed a set of heuristics and built a culture so sophisticated that modern Americans spend relatively little time on basic survival. The impact of heuristics and culture is that now we can have food and water delivered to our climate-controlled shelters without giving one second of thought to avoiding apex predators, and finding a mate can be accomplished by swiping your thumb across a screen.
Our ancestors had to devote all of their time and all of their courage to basic survival. Pursuing their potential and fulfilling their destiny was probably a hope they had for their children, and that hope is what advanced culture and civilization to the point where we are now, and now we have the opposite problem. We are required to devote very little time or courage to basic survival, and we have every opportunity to pursue our potential and fulfill our individual destiny, but we lack the courage to do so because we are rarely required to practice courage the way our ancestors were.
Heuristics To Simplify Your Quest
In the quest for courage, authenticity, excellence, mastery and meaning, it will be useful to have a set of heuristics that allows us to manage the uncertainty, complexity, and distraction that will inevitably follow. These heuristics will help simplify decision making, and expedite action. Each of these will be valuable at different times during your quest. Apply them as needed.
“When you know the Way broadly, you see it in all things.” -Miyamoto Musashi
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” - Nelson Mandela
“Start with what’s possible, then reverse engineer your plan from there, because if you do anything less, you’re dreaming too small.” - Chef David Chang
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” - Maya Angelou
The Trajectory of your life will be determined by one decision: excellence or regret? Nobody wants to live the wrong life, and then die filled with regret.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results, so develop the skills you need to achieve the results you want.