It started innocently – I wanted to write down my philosophy of life, to become more aware of the foundations of my decision making, thinking and maybe even feeling. This year, I’m going through a housing search, a job reassessment, as well as changes in relationships. I wanted to produce at least a few signposts for these life milestones as I decide which way to go; and to better navigate myself so I don’t beat around the bush.

How did it turn out? Discussions with effective altruists yielded a list of 120 questions (for other ways to evaluate annually, see here or here, for example), only one of which relates to life philosophy, accompanied by a subtle inquiry about my values, and capped by the question: „Am I living in alignment with my life philosophy and core values?“ In answering it, I zigzag between my cognitive biases and other biases, who am I trying to keep my face from? No one will see it, it will only torture me on AGI in the future.

I took the questions on a month-long tour of Europe, which has paid off in the past. I don’t want to share my answers with you, but tools and tips on how I try to answer the hard questions. It makes the whole process of self-discovery easier. I don’t know if my approach is a good one, but the process itself gives me stability and makes me happy. I hope you find something useful as well.

Values and Purpose

Do I have meaning and direction in my life? What is my philosophy of life? What do I want from life? What are my core values? Am I living in accordance with my life philosophy and core values?

I’ll start with the simplest: values. On the Clearer Thinking website, you’ll find tools for improving your decision-making or making positive changes in your life. Among other things, there is an intrinsic values test. Honestly, what I find most interesting about it is the reasoning behind why it is important to know your intrinsic values:

Avoid „value traps“: value traps involve pursuing something that appears valuable (e.g. because society says it is valuable), but which doesn’t actually bring you closer to realizing your true intrinsic values.
Reduce unhelpful social guilt: we often feel pressure to seek the values that we are taught when we are young, or that those around us have. If these differ from our own personal intrinsic values, we may feel guilt, shame and insecurity, since those things we really care about are dif

...

Posts

Wikitag Contributions

Comments