- Alex Hutchinson - How to Rewire Your Brain to Take More Risks

Highlights

1min Snip Transcript: Alex Hutchinson Meals and a better career and you will find a better place to live and blah, blah, blah. So a very sort of utilitarian exploring leads to good things. The other way of answering is exploring feels good. It's like, it's exciting to go somewhere new to discover something you haven't encountered before. And those two things go together. The reason exploring feels good is because on an evolutionary level, it led to good things. Exploring feels good and that leads us to expand our world and discover better ways of doing things those two things kind of in the same way that just because sugar is sweet doesn't mean We should always pursue the taste of sugar doesn't mean that we should always pursue novelty now that that scrolling through social media doesn't necessarily it taps into that um that Circuitry that desire for new things it maybe doesn't teach us about the world. But ultimately, exploring is good because it teaches us about the world and it's very satisfying. It's a route to meaning, I think. Yeah, (via) ^rwhi886720666

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The Ikea Effect

• People value things more if they have to struggle to obtain them, which is called the Ikea effect. Putting in effort is a source of meaning for people. Transcript: Alex Hutchinson But people have done studies of what's called the Ikea effect, that if you've had to struggle with those pictographic instructions and figure out how that allen key works and all that Stuff you put the coffee table together you end up valuing that coffee table more highly than if you've got the exact same coffee table just delivered to your door pre-assembled so there's Something in us that values effort what that is is is uh it's hard to pin down but there's there are a few studies that have been emerging in the last couple of years, suggesting that putting In effort can, is a, is a source of meaning people. People can't define the meaning of life, but they can tell you when something feels meaningful and doing hard things tends to feel meaningful. Chris Williamson I wonder whether that plays into relationships. Sometimes the, uh, classic, I only want them if they don't want me dynamic. Alex Hutchinson Oh man, that's an interesting, uh, an or the, you know, the stormy relationships where it seems like you're having to work at it at all times. I mean, I think there's probably a little bit there that relationships that are too easy tend to get, you know, I don't want to tar and paper people's or, you know, be negative about relationships, But if it's just totally without strife without any tension then it maybe feels a little boring and you well it didn't it didn't even need to be tension or strife right effort you know Chris Williamson If it's just always there and i mean look i i peace is the most important thing in my life so for me uh the more peaceful the better but um even within that you don't want something to be again So predictable, no uncertainty, no intrigue. So with this uncertainty and effort sort of dynamic that's going on, how do you advise people to better embrace struggle? Alex Hutchinson Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing to just to recognize that just because something is hard doesn't mean it should be shied away from and in fact some you know it's like with (via) ^rwhi886720668

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Embrace Effort Paradox

• Reframe hard tasks as opportunities for meaningful effort to improve endurance and happiness.
• Embrace effort as a source of satisfaction, not just as a burden. Transcript: Chris Williamson And effort sort of dynamic that's going on, how do you advise people to better embrace struggle? Alex Hutchinson Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing to just to recognize that just because something is hard doesn't mean it should be shied away from and in fact some you know it's like with with a hat Tip to michael easter who's who's uh whose uh email list is called two percent because that's the percent of people who take the uh stairs when there's both the stairs and an escalator Available it's like you look at the stairs and you look at the escalator it seems obvious that going up the stairs or going up the escalator is going to be a more pleasant and better experience But when you take the stairs i i i you know i don't think it's just me it's like it's it's it's much more satisfying to have put in a little effort and recognizing that putting in effort is Going to lead you to feel good, it doesn't make the effort go away, but it helps you reframe it as something that's positive, not negative. This is an opportunity for me to put in effort, which is going to make me feel good, as opposed to I'm obliged to take on something hard. Chris Williamson Can that, tying that back (via) ^rwhi886720670

Embrace Struggle

• Recognize that hard things shouldn't always be avoided; they can be valuable.
• When given the option, take the stairs instead of the escalator. Transcript: Alex Hutchinson Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing to just to recognize that just because something is hard doesn't mean it should be shied away from and in fact some you know it's like with with a hat Tip to michael easter who's who's uh whose uh email (via) ^rwhi886720671

Explore With Optimism And Uncertainty

• Factor an 'uncertainty bonus' when deciding, favoring less known options to avoid calcified habits.
• Be optimistic about realistic best-case outcomes to minimize long-term regret. Transcript: Chris Williamson Yeah. Alex Hutchinson So I went down a big rabbit hole on this. I was like, I'm, I'm a, I come from a physics background. I'm a quantitative guy. I want the formula that will tell me when to explore or exploit. And I guess I apologize for chapter five in my book, which tries to follow that rabbit hole because there is a ton of attempts to produce a formula. And it turns out the math is, in any real world context, the math is ridiculous and becomes very hard to follow. But there are some big principles that I think that come out of the math, but that also are practical in a day-to scenario. So one concept is the idea of an uncertainty bonus. And we kind of do this intuitively, but I think it helps to think of it in terms of it consciously. When you're considering a decision, you don't automatically opt for the one you know less about or the unexplored road. But the less you know about an option, you give a bonus that's proportional to how little you know about it. So you say, all else being equal, I'm going to take the one that I know less about. So that kind of helps to make sure you're not getting too calcified into that sort of set of habits that you're talking about. It's not the only factor you consider, but it's like, I'm going to add a bonus if it's going to teach me something new or take me down a fresh path and then the one other uh kind of heuristic That that i think is useful that this is a sort of approximate way of solving this explore exploit dilemma it's it's something called the upper confidence bound algorithm and that's The math version and the way they translate that into regular language is optimism in the face of uncertainty, that you should be optimistic about the choices you make. And what that means in practice is that if you're choosing between options, you should take the scenario with the best case or the best realistic upside or the best realistic, best case Scenario. So realistic is in there because it's like, I'm not saying buy a lottery ticket because it's best case scenario is you're a millionaire because that's unlikely to happen. But for scenarios that are realistic, it pays to be optimistic. So an example, I guess, would be you're considering different job possibilities. One has a higher starting salary and is stable. And so that's real positive. The other may be less money, a little less stable, but it has a pathway towards your dream job. It has a pathway to what you actually really want to be doing in the long term. All else being equal, it's probably worth taking a shot on that because that's the optimism in the face of uncertainty that I don't know how things are going to turn out, but that's the Being optimistic. If things do turn out, that's the one that'll make me happiest. And what the math shows is if you've individual decisions, all bets are off. If it might turn out well, it might turn out poorly. But in the long term, if you're optimistic in the face of uncertainty, this will minimize your regret. This will minimize you looking back and saying, I wish I had done that. And I think that makes intuitive sense as well as mathematical sense. It's like, you don't look back and say, you're more likely to look back and say, I wish I had asked that person to dance, then I really regret asking that person to dance and they said no. Yeah. (via) ^rwhi886720672

Be Optimistic Facing Uncertainty

• When uncertain, favor options that offer the best realistic upside outcome.
• Optimism in decision-making lowers long term regret even if individual choices vary. Transcript: Alex Hutchinson I'm a quantitative guy. I want the formula that will tell me when to explore or exploit. And I guess I apologize for chapter five in my book, which tries to follow (via) ^rwhi886720673

Brain Maps Ideas and Places

• The hippocampus maps both physical places and abstract ideas like social networks.
• Exploration of ideas and environments share neurological mechanisms for creativity and learning. Transcript: Alex Hutchinson Yeah. So, you know, when I initially started on this topic, I was like, I'm interested in exploring. I think it's more than just about like the way I take my vacations or whatever. I think it's also about ideas, but it's like an, it's an analogy, it's a metaphor. And what I was really surprised to discover is that actually, no, in your brains, it's like the same thing. When you're wandering through a town that you've never been to before, you are mapping it in your hippocampus. You're forming cognitive maps. Literally, there are individual neurons that will light up when you go to a specific point on that map. There are other neurons that will keep track of what direction you're facing and how close you are to the borders of that town. You're building maps in your brain. There's a famous study about London cab drivers that their hippocampuses are enlarged. That's why, because they are mapping a very complicated city. So their hippocampuses actually have to get physically bigger. So it turns out that the hippocampus isn't just a place for mapping landscapes. It's a place for mapping ideas too. And we keep track of ideas. And so ideas that are close to each other or far away from each other, this is physically manifested in the brain. And so one example is we keep track of our social networks in the hippocampus. And so you think of like, we know people, we have some sense of like hierarchy. Are they more powerful than us or less powerful than us? And how well do we know them? Like, are they close to us? And so that's a two-dimensional map. And people literally map their social networks in their hippocampus in this two-dimensional way. So all of this is to say that when we talk about different ways of exploring, exploring and exploiting, this is intimately tied to creativity and coming up with new ideas, expanding Our cognitive maps of ideas. And so there are a bunch of interesting findings that fall out of that about how we should mix exploring and exploiting to come up with better ideas. (via) ^rwhi886720674