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Explore/Exploit--The endless question

You’re in a hurry to finish a spreadsheet. You can enter numbers by brute or you can spend a few minutes with Google to figure out a better way. Or maybe you need to write a quick note to HR so you pick up a pen and start scribbling. And then you think of something else that needs to be said--at what point did you cross the line between the quick startup of the handy pen and the slow start but much faster typing in Word? I don’t remember where I read the term but “explore/exploit” has always struck me as one of the key decision points in a productive life. Delay of productive activity is built into the time you spend exploring. Nothing visible is getting done. And you might explore and fail. In elementary school children are not typically told about the large number of settlers who went west and then returned east.

So short term, searching for new solutions seems wasteful. The alternative is to stay in some endless loop of what you already know - wash, rinse, repeat. Exploration is growth and personal power. For everyone on the green side of the sod there's probably a best mix. What is it? We don't know. Maybe the only solution is to get up in the morning and do a gut check -- am I exhausted from exploration or depressed by routine?

If you know the answer, let us know. 

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