It’s easy to encounter an interesting idea, and really want to act on it, but to never get around it, while feeling a latent sense of guilt. This post is about my tools to translate that guilt into action , and overcome procrastination| 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
A concrete, actionable approach to being more empathetic and better at communicating| Neel Nanda
Some tools for overcoming emotional resistance to prioritisation, how to choose between different options, and common mistakes. (A continuation of Post 16)| 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
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
Friendships are a really important part of my life, and I think a standard approach to friendship is nowhere near as good as it could be. I outline the basic principles of how I think about friendships, and how I try to put them into practice| Neel Nanda
Why prioritisation is incredibly important, and how to get started on figuring out your goals| Neel Nanda
On intrinsic motivation, and how to feel it more often| Neel Nanda
How I formed my own views on the complex topic of ‘will AI kill us all, and should I work on stopping this’, and traps I fell into| Neel Nanda
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 the importance of Slack - the freedom and spare capacity left on your life. How to guard and protect your Slack, notice the bottlenecks which bleed away your Slack, notice the drive to optimise that pushes you beyond your limits, and how to channel these insights having the freedom to be excited,| Neel Nanda
A common failure mode is to consistently set your standards for yourself too high, and to always feel guilty for falling short. I diagnose why I think this is a major problem, and outline some of my tools for overcoming this| Neel Nanda