A common failure mode in my life is analysis paralysis. I want to get something right , so I obsess over the small details, perfect it, without noticing how much it costs me. The insight of this post is that the best solution is the thing you actually do .| Neel Nanda
The first step is often the hardest step. It’s easy to procrastinate, to get stuck, to feel overwhelmed, and to do nothing while feeling constant guilt. This post is about my toolkit for getting past this| Neel Nanda
An important mental distinction underlying many previous posts| Neel Nanda
The default state of the world is that things are inefficient, that 20% of the effort put in results in 80% of the output. This is a fundamental part of how I see the world, and this post outlines how I have internalised this idea, and how to pursue the clever hacks that can make things better| Neel Nanda
About how and why the habit of actually thinking about something for 5 minutes is an incredibly powerful tool for solving problems and being more creative| Neel Nanda
When I procrastinate, I often put something off until creeping guilt and deadlines force me out of inaction, and I do something about it. This generally sucks. But far worse, is when something is important but doesn’t have any deadlines, and can be put off indefinitely. I call this failure to ac| Neel Nanda
On the mindset of “thinking in systems” as a way to solve personal problems, and structuring my life so I do the right things with the minimal use of willpower.| Neel Nanda
A lot of my problems boil down to an attachment to safe options, and a desire to not put myself out there. I try to dissect where this error comes from, and propose concrete actions to overcome it.| Neel Nanda
Why and how you should optimise for being a nicer person| Neel Nanda
A retrospective on my month of daily blogging, what I’ve gotten out of it, why you should do a daily writing project, and advice for doing this well.| Neel Nanda
On intrinsic motivation, and how to feel it more often| Neel Nanda
Life is full of opportunities with upside risk , a known cost, but a chance of a massive upside. This post is about why we miss out on so many, and how to fill your life with them| Neel Nanda
Preventing overreliance: The case for deliberate AI errors in human-in-the-loop systems| adamjones.me
In many important areas of life, I want to persevere through many failures for a few big successes. As a highly anxious person, this is hard! I instead focus on whether I made a good bet, not whether it failed.| Neel Nanda
On agency - the mindset of being able to look past defaults and constraints, and find ways to take action to achieve your goals. Examining what’s holding you back, understanding what agency feels like, and concrete advice on how to cultivate it.| Neel Nanda
One of the most valuable experiments I ever ran was intentionally practicing the skill of making close friends, and this directly led to most of my friends today. This post is the story of that experiment, and distills the lessons learned| Neel Nanda
There are many ways your life could be better, many mistakes that feel obvious when pointed out, but which you do nothing about by default. My favourite tool for resolving this is having a routine to regularly review my life - here I make the case for that, and outline how to do it well| Neel Nanda
An experimental post, where I try to dig into the parts of life that most spark fulfilment and joy for me, finding examples, ways of maximising for this, and trying to analyse way. Warning: Far more narcissistic and introspective than a normal post!| Neel Nanda