There’s No Trick To Being Awesome

There may be. This piece is a reaction to another in which the writer explains a simple trick - blogging every day about something he wanted to learn - that has allowed him to write several books on these subjects. The reaction, essentially, is "life hacks considered harmful." Not the hacks themselves, but the pseudo-computing jargon that implies that humans have the ability to program themselves like robots. This, the author decries, sets up a harmful body vs. mind conflict.

Let's assume, for the sake of discussion, that body and mind are one. But there are many commonly observed ways in which they work together against their own interests. Why do you get fat and not stay slim like you want? Why do you procrastinate? Why don't you give your full attention to your work? A life hack does not divide mind and body, a hack is a technique that allows you to do what you perceive to be in your best interest without trying to do it all at once. All such hacks I am aware of involve concentrated attention to specific, short-term goals that can be accomplished without reflecting on the big picture.

Yes, there's a lot of blather about "programming" especially among those ignorant of actual computer programming, but the notion that it is possible to do things you would ordinarily not do through the application of some technique, or adoption of some meme, did not originate in information science. It has a long history. The more recent term "hack" certainly comes from computing, but it is used as a metaphor to describe a workaround that allows you to do what you want without requiring you to change your basic nature. It's hard to see this as a problem. You are what you are. For most people this means we tend to be lazy and complacent and get stuck in a groove, even when we can see our current path is not taking us where we want to go. If a "trick" is needed to move in a better direction, it's a good thing.

More specifically: I am currently reading Thinking: Fast And Slow by Daniel Kahneman. With solid science, the author describes how the fast parts of our brains deceive us with quick, easy, illogical answers, while the slow, logical parts are lazy and accept most such answers without reflection. Occasionally, he reflects on ways he tries to force himself to avoid common errors. It isn't easy because there are things we know by science that are hard to accept personally, and in any case, you can't really change how your brain works. The techniques he describes are mental hacks - tricks he uses to reframe his thinking to allow him to get better answers. Surely knowing your own nature, and working around it at times to do a better job of thinking, is good for you.