How to Stop Yourself from Becoming Useless

Willingness Decay and Its Impact on the Individual

Before I wrote this sentence, I looked around at the objects on my desk, and was struck with the conceptual magnitude of what I saw.

To my right is a stack of A4 papers laying underneath a large book. The papers contain Jeff Bezos’ 1997 Amazon Shareholder letter—the first such letter he sent to investors—and the book is Roland Lazenby’s 672-page biography of Michael Jordan. The original founding document of one of the world’s greatest companies is within arm’s reach, and it’s stacked underneath the comprehensive story of one of history’s greatest athletes. I earned enough money to afford this information in less than one hour of my unremarkable part-time job. Never before in history has such incredible information been available at such little cost.

On my left is an open laptop, containing a processor that completes its computational cycle 3.3 billion times per second. It quietly works away, running several programs and playing music from Spotify’s expansive library at a pleasant, controllable volume.

In front of me lies a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. I have tasked myself, as many people have, with converting the expanse of information at my disposal into a concise, coherent conceptual exploration.

But something feels wrong.

My laptop may be able to play music, but it can also access pointless YouTube videos. It may allow me to search the internet to find relevant information for this discussion, but it also threatens to suck me into a wormhole of procrastination and pseudo-work. Although Lazenby’s book doesn’t run Microsoft Word, it presents far less opportunity for disruption. For years, this paradox has haunted technological advancement.

As our tools become stronger and smarter, they enable us to work more efficiently. However, it seems that this process also increases the potential for distraction from work, either by presenting us with novel stimuli or giving us more free time in which to be distracted. This presents an interesting problem.

Willingness Decay

As you and I discussed in-depth here, I believe that discipline is the foundation of a well-lived life. This doesn’t necessarily entail the obsessive, single-minded pursuit of a goal, but rather the ability to moderate your desires and emotions to become the person you want to be. Within the context of this discussion, however, we see an entirely new side to the value of discipline.

As distractions becomes more appealing and commonplace, we can assume that a higher proportion of people will attend to them. As Twitter or YouTube or Instagram becomes more addictive and fast-paced, for instance, their number of daily users will almost certainly increase. For every one person who is distracted, there is one less person working, and so the prevalence of distraction must be inversely proportional to that of work. If that doesn’t make sense, look at this graph instead:

This doesn’t look very promising on a macrosocial scale, especially given our current track record of technological advancement, but it presents a huge opportunity for the individual. To understand why, let’s add another line to the graph:

As our distractions become more appealing, we tend to indulge in them more. This leads to stronger habit formation, disproportionately increasing the amount of willpower necessary to focus on a difficult task. Therefore, as the prevalence of distraction increases linearly, the willpower necessary to restrain oneself increases exponentially. Unfortunately, not everyone will muster the necessary determination to overcome this resistance. This leads us to the final line of the graph:

As the necessary amount of willpower increases, the number of people willing to make the necessary sacrifices decreases. Therefore, as technology advances, hardworking people increasingly set themselves apart from others by joining the ever-shrinking group of people under the willingness line. This makes them more valuable employees, more desirable partners, and more formidable as people. Do you see the opportunity now?

Consistency is Key

There are several conclusions that can be drawn from this discussion. In my perception, a critical analysis of this situation hinges on the preparedness for future technological advancement. If someone can maintain a stable work output despite increased willpower requirements, then he or she is guaranteed to become more valuable—and, relatively speaking, more productive—as time passes.

Of course, there is the option of dedicating one’s entire life to work. This philosophy appears to have worked for many of history’s elite performers, but I’m not convinced that it always leads to a well-rounded life. Whilst this could warrant an entire discussion between you and I in the in the future, let’s assume for now that life is more fulfilling when not entirely dedicated to work. This leads us to an interesting conclusion:

How to Improve Without Improving

In life, I believe it’s important to have a select few things that are important to you. Technically, you could try and juggle many aspects of your life, but I’m fond of Christopher Hitchens’ idea that—whilst we can “choose [our] future regrets”—we cannot not prevent them entirely. Having established these values, you can then construct a series of routines or habits that are conducive to success in these areas. For example:

• If you want to develop high-quality relationships, maybe you should routinely dedicate time to spending time with friends and family.

•   If you want to optimise your physical health, perhaps you should get in the habit of eating healthily and engaging in regular exercise.

•   If you want to achieve financial freedom, then you should consider ways to minimise your expenses and maximise your income.

This way, even if your priorities change over time, you are always moving towards something, helping you to gain a sense of fulfilment and forward progression without necessitating any initial feelings of inadequacy.

But there’s something even more beneficial about this idea.

If you develop routines and habits, you contribute to the autonomy of these beneficial tasks. This decreases the amount of willpower required to output a consistent level of work. By slowing this increase in necessary willpower, you move yourself into a group of increasingly elite performers. Even if you never increase your work output beyond its initial level, the gradual weakening of everyone else’s work ethics means that you become increasingly valuable in almost every sense.

In the modern day, it would seem that one of the most sustainable ways of becoming exceptional is simply to not be useless.

Please do not misinterpret this as advocacy for a stagnant life. As mentioned earlier, the exact allocation of your time and effort warrants its own discussion. Personally, I strive to become incrementally better each day, but it’s comforting to understand that—theoretically—I don’t necessarily have to be.

But Wait: There’s More!

This is not a complete discussion; it is a complex issue, and I have no doubt that my thoughts on this will grow and improve over time in terms of nuance and quality. I intend to continue exploring this topic in future articles, but for now this will act as the conceptual foundation on which to build. If you’re interested in this topic or think that I’m wrong (or both), then articulate your thoughts in a comment. At the very least, carry these ideas with you into the future, and reflect on their applicability as you work towards becoming the person you wish to be.

Never stop thinking.

 - Will