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When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

nytimes.com

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Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#7

Sounds like they weren't 'optimizing' if stopping yielded better results?

"I tried to self optimize and got better" is a more descriptive title. The article is just them discovering that self optimization is more complicated than they initially thought, but they never stopped trying.

Re: When I stopped trying to self-optimize, I got better

#10
The headline is misleading and kind of troll-y. Sure, self-optimizers can get in their own way, like everybody else, because there are lots of ways to try to improve, and not all of them work. This guy is basically saying he learned to focus and then he did the task in front of him better. That's also optimization, even self optimization. It's just not visualizing your future in a pink bubble/Tony Robbins stuff. The funny thing is, the headline will attract a lot of people who care about self-optimization and they'll read this and think "yeah that makes sense" and wrap it into their workflow. There's noise in the self-help space, nothing new. People who try to get better make mistakes (experiments), and try again. It worked for this guy!
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