Systems: abusing lady fortune & optimising for success

Nevertheless, not to extinguish our free will, I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that she still leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less.

For my part I consider that it is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman, and if you wish to keep her under it is necessary to beat and ill-use her; and it is seen that she allows herself to be mastered by the adventurous rather than by those who go to work more coldly. She is, therefore, always, woman-like, a lover of young men, because they are less cautious, more violent, and with more audacity command her.

The Prince, Machiavelli, grandfather of RP shitlords

This post is about optimising your chances of success by creating systems that increase your exposure to positive life events. a.k.a keep your 50% nailed down tight and you can manufacture your own luck.

Optionality is about getting the upper half of luck.

Option = asymmetry + rationality

Asymmetry: "more to gain than to lose"; "more upside than downside".

Rationality: "[...] not rejecting something that is markedly better than what you had before."

Antifragile, Nassim Taleb [0]

A good system gives you more options. Being "Alpha" is roughly equivalent to being seen as having options. Having options is sexy.

SYSTEMS are recurring and can be relegated to your subconscious. Use them for create lasting behavioural change and to build discipline into your life. Systems ensure you do the leg work to complete your goals.

GOALS are one-off, abstract, and long-term. "I want fuck-you money"; I want a better body than Brad Pitt in Fight Club". Don't we all. Goals are ineffective when it comes to implementing change.

To put it bluntly, goals are for losers. For our purposes, let's say a goal is a specific objective that you either achieve or don't sometime in the future. A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run. If you do something every day, it's a system. If you're waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it's a goal.

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams [1]

To create a system:

  1. Decide what you want
  2. Associate it with a trigger
  3. Use psychological tricks. If you need ideas, read Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

There are glitches in the way everyone is wired that make reprogramming yourself easier. For example persuasion works on yourself even when you're the one doing it.

In their infinite wisdom the patriarchs of TRP have already identified the best upside-inducing, optionality-increasing activities. I've listed a few below and added a few of my own.

You're fat/weak/don't lift? Start lifting

Trigger: I lift every other day at 8pm after I'm back from work.

Trick: Consistency principle. If you state "I lift every other day" to yourself or others you will feel obliged to stay true to your word. [2]

Approach

How to Talk to Everyone You See, BurgundyCarpet

Prevent oneitis with plates

Or as the Pook would say: "Always have a back-up chick!".

Build your professional life

You already know or can find out what would be beneficial in your industry.

  • Artists need portfolios;
  • Software developers need GitHub, StackOverflow accounts and a technical blog.

Create a system whereby you can enhance your public image though examples of your work or efficacy.

You're poor? Displace spending with earning:

Again and again, frugality is a joke. If you’re busy earning? The saving part takes care of itself. You don’t get rich if you don’t invest in your skills. Example: “research ways to save $5″ vs. “spend same amount of time making $25″. Option one leads to $5… Option 2 leads to $30 with the same time spent!

Wall Street Playboys, $1 Million, 10 Years, Zero Excuses

Hamster interception

As rational as we'd like to be, humans tend to make decisions guided by emotion and then rationalise why that decision was the right one. If you should catch yourself hesitating in the face of an unpleasant but necessary task (lifting / approaching), rebuke the hamster with a swift "fuck you" and choose the harder of the two options considered.

Use effective language

When making a request of someone look after your half only. Give the person every reason for complying with your request. I've used children in the following examples but you can easily extrapolate them to women & effeminate men.

  • "Ask <child> if you can use his toy";
  • "Walk with scissors please";
  • "Ask me if you want to use the matches / lighter";
  • "Stay away from the stove. Let me know if you want to see what's cooking".

Obvious, isn't it? Why then do new parents attempt to shape their child's behaviour by telling the child what they shouldn't do!?

  • "Don't take other children's toys";
  • "Don't run with scissors";
  • "Don't hit other children";
  • "Don't touch the stove".

Take the shortest path and teach the desired behaviour. Reward obedience or enforce consequences as necessary. No negotiation.

Guard your speech and mind jealously

This deserves a post in itself but I'm putting it here anyway for those of you who already do all the above. Your brain is largely governed by the words you use. SJWs understand this and subvert our language with meaningless terms like "homophobia", "rape culture" and "toxic masculinity". [3]

A single-mother or bluepill upbringing shrouds natural laws in fog and creates unknown-unknowns the size of Titanic-sinking icebergs. Little wonder the newly-unplugged have a reputation for anger!

On the plus side (and I'm sure the mods will testify to this) trolls, spergs and emasculated men are instantly betrayed by their language:

  • "I feel ...";
  • "Sounds chauvinist to me";
  • "I don't know if this kind of post is against this subreddit's rules [...]";

All real examples from this subreddit. Enough. I feel sick already.

You'll notice a common theme among all these systems:

  • They're all actions you can take in your own time;
  • They all add value to your life;
  • They're all real, results-focused, unavoidable and binary. You either do them or you don't.

Now What? Where to from here?

Success is compounding. It's like stacking bricks. Taleb describes nature's rationality in exploiting asymmetry as a ratchet effect, locking biological systems in a state that is better than the previous one.

Learning a new habit can be initially painful. However, once you're over the initial hurdle you now have a springboard (make sure you check out the first image!) from which you can launch yourself toward even greater endeavours.

Third, freedom is a leaky, subsuming process. Human lives have external dimensions, not just internal ones. An inner process of compounding and increasing dimensionality that manifests externally must eventually “take over your life” externally as well. So no part of your life, internal or external, can be walled off from the workings of a freedom transformation. The driver of this subsuming leakage is the fourth feature of the freedom process, the feeding-on-noise. This is what causes a sort of fear of freedom. We all like freedom where we are able to handle it, but prefer captivity where we are not yet ready to handle it (or where we think we might never be ready). So we compartmentalize both internally and externally — create barriers that separate regimes of being with different “noise” levels. So you might work out with free weights for your body, but be attached to the security of a paycheck at work. But to contain the freedom that is taking root for your in the gym, you have to create and strain to maintain a sort of work-life separation.

On Freedomspotting, Venkatesh Rao

Rao's theory on the spreading of freedom explains to me why trader-and-philosopher Taleb deadlifts and Scott Adams is doing well for 60.

For those who made it this far: thank you, and I hope this post will be found of value.

Further Reading

[0]: Antifragile, Chapter 12 - "Thales' Sweet Grapes". At minimum read and understand the whole damn chapter.

[1]: Scott Adams has shit-tonnes to say about systems vs. goals in his book. Read it.

[2]: The Consistency Principle should be used only for systems / habits. Telling others about your goals actively works against you because doing so releases the same dopamine as working on a goal itself.

[3]: AKA brainwashing. It's more real and present than you realise. Cialdini describes its highly successful use against American POWs during the Korean war in Ch.3: Commitment and Consistency of Influence. For historical context read When Iron Gates Yield by Geoffrey Bull and BRAINWASHING: The Story of the Men Who Defied it by Edward Hunter. For its more subtle modern implementation, read up on the Hegelian Dialectic. As I said, it deserves a post in itself.

If you haven't read them already, I can't recommend the following books highly enough:

  • The Prince
  • Influence: The Psychology of persuasion
  • Antifragile
  • How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big