Protecting Yourself with Safeguards
Safeguards are tools that protect us from our own biological vulnerabilities and impulsive decisions by reshaping our environment or creating rules, thereby increasing friction against actions that undermine our long-term goals.
THE IDEA
Protecting Yourself with Safeguards
There are many inbuilt biological vulnerabilities that can impede good judgment: sleep deprivation, hunger, fatigue, emotion, distraction, stress from feeling rushed, and being in an unfamiliar environment are just some examples. We can’t avoid finding ourselves in these conditions from time to time. But we can implement safeguards to protect us from our defaults when we are.
Safeguards are tools for protecting ourselves from ourselves—from weaknesses that we don’t have the strength to overcome.
Here’s a simple example. Suppose you want to start eating a healthier diet. You make this task much harder on yourself if you inhabit an unhealthy environment—if, say, your pantry and fridge are full of junk food. Purging your home of all junk food is a safeguard. It protects you against impulsively ripping open a bag of potato chips when you’re feeling hungry or bored. Of course, you can still go to the store and buy chips, but that’s a lot of work. You have to think, plan, and act. In the time it takes you to do all that, you might think better of your options, and choose to eat something more in line with your health goals.
Purging your home of all junk food is an example of one safeguarding strategy: increasing the amount of “friction” required to do something that’s contrary to your long-term goals. There are lots of safeguard strategies, though. My favorites include prevention, creating rules for yourself, making checklists, shifting your frame of reference, and making the invisible visible.
When to use it
Sticking to a budget: set up automatic savings transfers and cut up credit cards to add friction to overspending.
Improving productivity: block distracting websites during work hours using a browser extension as a safeguard.
Reducing procrastination: lay out gym clothes the night before to reduce friction to exercise in the morning.
Making better financial decisions: create an investment checklist to follow before making large purchases.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Healthy Eating Safeguard
Purging your home of all junk food creates friction; you'd have to go to the store to buy chips, giving you time to reconsider and choose a healthier option.
Rule for Evening Decisions
A person who notices poor judgment when tired sets a rule to defer nonurgent important decisions after 9 PM. Decisions that cannot wait need a different safeguard, such as a checklist or a second opinion.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What situations trigger your worst decision-making due to fatigue, hunger, or stress? What safeguards could you implement?
Think of a long-term goal you're struggling with. What friction can you add to counteract impulsive actions that undermine it?
Which of the safeguard strategies (prevention, rules, checklists, frame shifting, making invisible visible) could you apply to a current challenge?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Clear Thinking Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results (Shane Parrish)