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The Retrospective Perspective
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” – Muhammad Ali
There is a question generally attributed to the British after the World War II: “Did you have a good war?”
While war, like pandemics, can never be said to be good, the question’s meaning was more like, “Did you manage to make the best of a bad situation?”
When I was on my rowboat, the days felt very long. Even a single rowing shift seemed to go on forever, and the tedium could be almost unbearable. I was absolutely desperate to get to the other side, but the more impatient I got, the slower the time seemed to go.
I never doubted that I would get to the other side, but at times I didn’t know how I would get there without driving myself insane. I would get thoroughly sick of myself, bored to tears with my repetitive thoughts, and feel like I wanted to be able to crawl out of my own skull and be somebody else, somewhere else, for just one day — or even just one hour — of relief from myself.
The Present Bias
Here we run into another cognitive bias, the present bias. It is usually demonstrated in an economic context, as the preference most people have for a smaller financial reward now, compared with a larger financial reward…
