something i think about often

I like to ask new people I meet a question that goes something like this: What is the most generically useful advice you like to give -- what do you like to evangelize?

For me an example would be “you should carry around anti nausea pills and give them to people”. I used to also evangelize polyamory but I don't care anymore. I had others but I can't remember them right now. I digress.

Probably the most common reply I get is people recommending meditation, which I still haven't gotten into.

Anyway so imagine you ask this question to this guy who is maybe 40, very pretty and very fit. And you're in a somewhat rationalist or post-rationalist social context. So this is a guy who prides himself on intelligence as well, for sure. And he says to you that a really important skill, which he focuses on a lot, is the skill of micro optimizing mundane tasks. For example, if you are making coffee, and the longest subtask is letting the water boil, you should start heating the water first and then get the cup, grind the beans, whatever, while that goes on. And he is delivering this to me as, indeed, life changing advice, and a part of his identity.

You see, I do dedicate a huge amount of attention to this kind of micro optimization whenever I'm doing a task. I think for me I consider it something between a fun puzzle and a weird obsession. If somebody did not want to ‘speedrun’ their morning routine every day, that would make a lot of sense to me. Also, this behavior of mine surely cannot be saving me more than 2 hours a year. Also, I'm pretty sure this is pretty normal to do to some extent.

So, I wasn't sure what to say. But now whenever I am solving the best way to speedrun making a certain sandwich, I think back to this moment and become befuddled.