Effectiveness

As we live longer and longer, exercise serves to extend that life, and to improve our quality of life for the entire span.

Two hundred years ago we got more exercise and lived shorter lives - today, in this time of abundance, we need exercise for the energy and physical condition to explore more of the joys this rich time offers.

Some effects in our lives are multiplied by the long term we live.  When we think of fitness, smoking, staying within a budget, and over-eating we have a hard time remembering that some of the effects will be felt day after day for the rest of our long lives.

We eat a delicious dessert and are completely aware of the pleasure we get.  But we are dimly, or not at all, aware of what obesity will do to us, because evolution and culture have never before had to deal with the long lives we now have.

Some choices have no long-term consequences.  For those that do, stop and consider those consequences, as well as the short term.

Life is going to deal you setbacks and cause you pain.  How do you deal with this?

One way is to cast yourself as helpless in the face of others' actions, to be a victim.  This allows you to accept bad events, lower your expectations from life, and feel good about yourself as an underdog.

It also means that your outcomes will not be as good, but you will have a reason to invest less effort.

Is victimism for you?

The News and Facebook contain distortions.  The news has to grab your attention to sell ads, and Facebook users show only the best moments in their normal lives to make themselves feel better.

These distortions mean you are giving your time and getting anxiety and sadness in return.  Why make this trade?

Don't watch the news, and stop giving Facebook your attention.  Spend that time on your own life, and the people you love.

Compare what you earn with what you spend.  If you earn more than you spend, you are building savings, worrying less, and have a cushion against risks.

If you're spending more than you earn you're building debt, on which you are paying interest, meaning that you will build debt faster and faster.

Eventually you will be forced to lower your spending and start paying that debt down.  When that happens your lifestyle will be reduced for years... or you could limit your lifestyle now, and get all the benefits of saving, now and for the rest of your life.

If a person in your life pushes you, and you've offered to compromise or discuss, then they want to win, and they want you to lose.

You are no longer in a friendly discussion.  They are preferring a hostile resolution.

Tell them no.  Once they take a hostile position, you must not give in - and if you fear that they will become upset, you must accept this possibility.  Because, once a person wants to win and wants you to lose, the worst thing you can do is give in.

The future can be known to some small extent - but specific outcomes may be good or bad, and there are always wild cards like natural disasters and accidents that can change everything.

How to do you stop worrying about the future?  Worrying is a waste of time, but the future is unknowable.  Categorize what you don't know, limit sources of worry, and then put all that may come into the not knowing.

Simple ideas are seductive because of how strong and clear they are. 

Government is corrupt and incompetent.  Everyone is a thief.  Food should taste good.

These ideas make life simple and give clarity.  They are, however, wrong.  Using these simplifications as a guide in your life leaves out crucial details, even if the idea is mostly, or most often, right.

You can't go through life with ideas this simple.  Life is not, ever, this simple, and your mental map has got to at least accept this.

It's simpler and more efficient to be one person, have one set of values, treat people one way.  But it doesn't work.  People and situations are best treated differently - ideally, every person and situation must be treated in its own individual optimum way.

This is silly - who can spend that much time thinking?  Neither a single approach, nor a multitude of approaches are best - perhaps merely being aware when your single approach has failed, and you should not use it, or at least modify it, is enough?

How to live effectively changes depending on where we are in our lives, and on the obligations we have to others, and to ourselves.  Some goals, such as fitness and financial stability, never change except in their details - but some goals are proper and necessary at one stage in our lives, and not useful at others.