Degree of Difficulty and Degree of Arousal

I came across these two concepts in the past many times, and they’re often described separately, but in my head I’ve always seen them together, bonded like molecules intertwined in a DNA double helix. In this brief article I’ll share a concept that will point to their connection and how you can utilize it, to better your decision making.

Internal Degree of Arousal represents how much we are aroused or excited about something. It can be positive or negative, which often depends on its intensity or degree. We can control this intensity in various ways, depending on the area at which the arousal is directed. Level of arousal is highly correlated to our emotions, which are further connected to our past experiences. This means that our perception, on both old and new experiences, affects the degree of the arousal. The bad news is that our biases are also involved in our perception, hence the level and arousal itself, impacting our decision making abilities and outputs. The good news it that we can manage it substantially by some short-term means, like for example “manning up” at specific moment of the arousal (i.e. approaching the girl at the bar) or by some systematic, proven practices, that in turn regulate our bio-chemistry and puts our body, mind and soul in balance. These systematic practices are, but are not limited to: reading, weight-lifting, intermitted fasting, meditation, semen retention, cold showers, healthy diet, supplementation etc.

External Degree of Difficulty represents how difficult the task ahead of us is. It is external because it points to the task that by it self is the same, unchanged, and it’s outside of us and our control. We can divide one difficult task into several, or dozen, smaller tasks that in turn are easier. Also, we control which tasks to tackle first, and with this choice, we basically manage the degree of difficulty. If we chose to do only easy tasks (by this I don’t mean breaking down difficult task into easier ones, and accompanied skills to do this continuously) we will sooner or later become outdated, outgunned by competitors, obsolete, or worst – bored. This is a big problem in large corporations and its workforce. On the other side, if we always chose difficult tasks, we might run out of fuel (i.e. burnout) before the next milestone or final outcome. This is observed problem in young companies; Startups, where founders, usually with their own “skin in the game”, want to do everything at once, by themselves. The management and choice of appropriate degree of difficulty is a balancing act that we all must face in our professional and private life almost daily.

Finally, I share a concept, that represents a bond between these two concepts. In a DNA example where a bond between two molecules is made of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, here I’m proposing a creation and strengthening of a bond that is commonly available to everyone. In order to create and strengthen our bond, we should first start by managing our internal degree of arousal by systematic practices I mentioned before. Not an easy task, that involves some lifestyle changes, but benefits of doing them will be felt almost immediately and they act with a synergetic effect, so they’re mutually reaffirming. Start with the ones most appropriate to adopt, then gradually add other practices. Then, secondly we should master the skill of breaking down difficult task into smaller pieces and choosing the appropriate one first (do you see resemblance with the first steep?). This bond that I described, once build, can be applied in almost every aspect of life, at every age. You can teach your kinds to practice them. I intentionally left out the details, simply because we’re all different and different situations requires different adaptations, so you’ll have to find most appropriate one for you. The beauty of this concept lies in its’ simplicity and in the fact that it’ll be easy for you to see and apply it everywhere, once you start building it. And before long, you’ll notice how it governs your habits, your behavior, your life, like hydrogen bonds governs our DNA.