{"id":6279,"date":"2015-10-27T11:25:52","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T18:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=6279"},"modified":"2018-04-03T08:02:12","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T15:02:12","slug":"strive-or-settle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/27\/strive-or-settle\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mathematics of Perseverance: The Formula to Help You Decide Whether to Strive or Settle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Say you\u2019re unhappy about something in your life: your job, your health, your spouse, your skills. In all these cases you have many choices about what you can do, but they all largely fall into two different categories:<\/p>\n

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  1. Do something about it.<\/li>\n
  2. Accept things as they are.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Doing something about it can take many forms. If you\u2019re unhealthy you can start eating healthier and exercising more. If you\u2019re unhappy in your relationship you could try to change the relationship you have or leave the person you’re with and find someone new. If you want a better job, you could quit yours or try to become better at it and negotiate better terms from within.<\/p>\n

    Accepting things as they are requires an attitude adjustment. It means accepting that you won\u2019t have six-pack abs or be able to run a four-minute mile. It means learning to accept your partner\u2019s faults instead of trying to change them. It means learning to appreciate your life instead of trying to improve it.<\/p>\n

    Accept or Try?<\/h2>\n

    Most people tend to make the accept-or-try decision the same way for everything in their lives.<\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re a die-hard striver, you may have looked at all of the examples I listed above and thought the answer was obvious: set goals and work harder. If you\u2019re a settler of Zen proportions, you probably aren\u2019t reading this blog, but you may have seen all those sources of dissatisfaction in life as coming from your own desires which you can eliminate.<\/p>\n

    Unfortunately, the world is rarely this simple.<\/p>\n

    Sometimes people who strive too much fail to accept things they can\u2019t change, or try to chase a utopian version of their life making them always unhappy with the present. Sometimes people who accept too much become complacent about things of importance and end up being struck by entirely avoidable misfortune.<\/p>\n

    The question is, how do you separate instances when you should strive from when you should settle?<\/p>\n

    The Formula for Strive or Settle<\/h2>\n

    The first thing you need to consider when deciding whether to strive or settle is: given the actions you plan to take, what is the probability of success? If success is trivial, it might be worth doing even if the expected benefits are low. If success is impossible, it might not be worth undertaking even if the expected benefits are high.<\/p>\n

    You can see this by considering some edge cases:<\/p>\n