Ben_LandauTaylor comments on Luck II: Expecting White Swans - Less Wrong

6 Post author: fowlertm 15 December 2013 05:40PM

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Comment author: ialdabaoth 15 December 2013 06:49:04PM *  10 points [-]

sub-principle one: lucky people maintain a network of contacts with other people.

I.e.: be Extroverted, not Introverted.

sub-principle two: lucky people are more relaxed and less neurotic than unlucky people

I.e.: Be Stable, not Neurotic.

sub-principle three: lucky people have a strong drive towards novelty, and strive to introduce variety into their routines.

I.e.: Be Open to Experience, not Closed.

sub-principle two: lucky people attempt to achieve their goals and persist through difficulty.

I.e.: Be Conscientious, not Haphazard.

sub-principle one: lucky people see the silver lining in bad situations.

I.e.: Be Positive, not Depressive.

... reading through most of this, it seems like the trick is to not be Neurotic, not be Depressive, not be Introverted, and to have high Openness and Conscientiousness. By my understanding, these aren't really traits you can just "decide" to improve, and people who do not naturally possess these traits tend to experience a pretty hefty willpower toll forcing their behavior.

Comment author: Ben_LandauTaylor 22 December 2013 02:57:28AM 3 points [-]

these aren't really traits you can just "decide" to improve

True! Instead, these are skills that you can train. "Just decide to be extroverted" will work about as well as "just decide to be better at chess." The thing is that, to turn "decide to be better at chess" into "actually become a better chess player," you have to play a bunch of games and study openings and probably other stuff. (I can't actually play chess very well.)

Over the past couple of years, I have massively shifted my personality towards four of the five traits you discuss (extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, and positivity). This isn't because I intellectually understood that it would be nice to change. It's because I deliberately practice this stuff all the time.

people who do not naturally possess these traits tend to experience a pretty hefty willpower toll forcing their behavior

True at the start. Becomes less true as you actually gain the traits, and eventually becomes negligible. ("Just forcing" the traits doesn't seem likely to work any better than just playing a squillion chess games. You'll get better results if you focus on specific subskills, ask experts for help, etc etc.)

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