This episode delves into the use of substitute questions—simpler queries we use to answer more complex ones—and the crucial concept of cohesion between these substitutes and our true objectives. You'll learn how to leverage counterfactual thinking to scrutinize your assumptions and enhance the effectiveness of your decisions. Discover two powerful counterfactual techniques: asking "what else could be true?" to reveal alternative explanations, and employing thought experiments to, for example, precisely define your desires and career aspirations. The discussion offers practical applications, from refining hiring processes by identifying high-cohesion interview criteria to avoiding confirmation bias in debugging. By adopting counterfactual thinking, you can significantly improve your analytical skills, make more informed choices, and build robust strategies.

• Uncover how cognitively taxing questions lead us to use substitute questions as heuristics, and why understanding the cohesion between these is vital for accurate decision-making.
• Learn to implement "counterfactual thinking" to rigorously check your heuristics and substitute questions, ensuring they effectively align with your actual goals and underlying evaluations.
• Discover two key counterfactual techniques: exploring "what else could be true?" to identify alternative explanations for observations, and conducting thought experiments to clarify nuanced personal and professional desires.
• Explore practical applications of counterfactuals to drastically improve processes like hiring, by challenging low-signal interview criteria (e.g., LeetCode problems) and making more predictive assessments of candidates.
• Understand how counterfactuals can combat biases like confirmation bias in problem-solving, such as debugging, by prompting you to consider alternative causes and avoid poor pathways of biased logic.
• Realise the transformative power of counterfactual thinking in refining your thinking process, improving your career trajectory, and enhancing departmental operations by identifying and improving low-cohesion substitutions.

If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show, drop it over at: developertea.com..

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This episode explores why maintenance tasks, despite their fundamental importance, are often neglected or deprioritised in our daily lives and professional work. It delves into the psychological biases that make consistent maintenance challenging, such as hyperbolic discounting, where immediate gratification is valued over future gains, and the construal level theory, which highlights how psychological distance makes preventative work less impactful. The concept of the "maintenance paradox" is introduced, explaining that when maintenance is done well, its benefits go unnoticed, diminishing the sense of reward. The episode encourages listeners to adopt a maintenance mindset, making these tasks a standard habit rather than relying on typical prioritisation structures, as they are crucial for enhancing the quality of overall experiences and preventing future, more urgent problems.

• People tend to discount future gains or devalue them relative to immediate gratification, a concept known as hyperbolic discounting. This means a dollar now is generally more appealing than a dollar tomorrow, or even two dollars tomorrow.
• Many important tasks, whether changing guitar strings, making your bed, clearing email backlogs, or improving a development environment (often termed "tech debt" in a professional context), are easily put off because they seem like low priority in the moment.
• The "maintenance paradox" illustrates that when maintenance is performed correctly, its positive effects are often invisible because it prevents negative outcomes that are never experienced. This lack of visible benefit means there's no immediate "dopamine rush" or gratification from consistent maintenance.
• Construal level theory explains why maintenance is difficult by highlighting different forms of psychological distance.
  • Temporal distance relates to the future value of maintenance being less immediate.
  • Spatial distance suggests tasks further away (e.g., in an attic) are more likely to be in disrepair.
  • Social distance refers to maintenance affecting others more than oneself, reducing direct personal impact.
  • Hypothetical distance is particularly relevant for maintenance, as preventing a problem means never experiencing the potential downside, making the value of the preventative work hard to assess or feel. This contrasts with reactive work, where real losses are visible, making it seem more urgent and higher priority.
• A "bad cycle" can be created by the dopamine rush experienced when allowing things to pile up and then finally cleaning or fixing them, which inadvertently trains individuals that it's acceptable to delay maintenance. The marginal benefit of immediate action doesn't provide enough immediate gratification compared to the larger reward of eventual relief.
• To counteract these biases, maintenance must become a standard practice or habit. Adopting a "maintenance mindset" means understanding that these tasks enhance the quality of other experiences, such as making a bed to create a calm environment or applying sunscreen to prevent future pain.
• Maintenance tasks often fall into the "important but not urgent" quadrant of the Eisenhower matrix, but they only become urgent when the disrepair is overwhelming, like guitar strings breaking on stage. It is vital to integrate these behaviours into daily routines rather than relying solely on typical prioritisation structures.
• The podcast itself can be seen as a form of "maintenance behaviour" for one's career and professional life.

If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show, drop it over at: developertea.com.

If you want to be a part of a supportive community of engineers (non-engineers welcome!) working to improve their lives and careers, join us on the Developer Tea Discord community by visiting https://developertea.com/discord today!.

If you're enjoying the show and want to support the content head over to iTunes and leave a review! It helps other developers discover the show and keep us focused on what matters to you.

This episode introduces a profound yet simple principle: knowing your baselines. This concept is crucial for effectively detecting and measuring change in your life and career.

• Uncover the fundamental idea that to recognise when something has changed, you must first understand what things were like before the change occurred. Often, people haven't been measuring their lives, making it challenging to spot shifts because their baselines are unknown.
• Learn to identify your personal baselines across various aspects of your life. This includes understanding typical daily habits, such as whether you tend to skip lunch, or how many hours you usually work (e.g., 6, 8, or 10 hours). While general data might suggest optimal working hours (e.g., 35-45 hours for most benefit, rarely more than 55 hours), your personal baseline is unique, and the goal is to empower you to make conscious decisions about your habits.
• Explore other crucial areas for baseline measurement, including simple health metrics like your typical body weight, baseline levels of activity with friends, expected energy levels, and even your baseline for positivity.
• Discover how establishing these 'operating norms' for your life can be a critical factor in recognising positive changes, identifying when you are unconsciously changing a behaviour, or even detecting signs of burnout. For instance, if your body weight trends upwards, it might signal decreased activity. Similarly, knowing your baseline learning rate can help you assess if you are learning at an acceptable pace.
• Understand the significant benefit of sharing your baseline measurements or expectations with others. What others observe about your life can provide a valuable starting point or confirm changes you might not perceive yourself. It's encouraged to get curious about what others are seeing, rather than dismissing their observations.
• Grasp why this principle is so important: it helps align your actions with your values and purpose. If you care about spending quality time with family or friends, understanding your baseline investment in these relationships allows you to recognise if you're moving away from your expected commitment. Knowing your baselines demonstrates that you're putting action behind your values, rather than just stating them.
• Consider starting by engaging a trusted person to help you be aware of your baselines, especially concerning the things that matter most to you. This provides external observation and support.

If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show, drop it over at: developertea.com.

If you want to be a part of a supportive community of engineers (non-engineers welcome!) working to improve their lives and careers, join us on the Developer Tea Discord community by visiting https://developertea.com/discord today!

If you're enjoying the show and want to support the content head over to iTunes and leave a review! It helps other developers discover the show and keep us focused on what matters to you.