Annie Duke

They're going to change the things that are possible for me in a couple of ways.

One is it might create outcomes that wouldn't otherwise be possible, right?

So that would be like winning the lottery versus not.

If I don't play, that's not even a possible world, right?

So, okay.

So it changes the possibilities, but then it can also change the chances of those possibilities happening.

the chances that I'm gonna actually have that thing happen.

And I think that when you approach life that way, it actually gives you a much greater sense of agency, right?

Okay, yeah, like the world happens and there's a whole bunch of stuff that I can't control.

But there's this thing that I really can control, which is if I make better decisions than on average, I'm going to have better possibilities that are available to me.

And those possibilities are going to be more likely than they otherwise would have.

And over time, that's just going to increase the chances that I live a better life than I otherwise would have.

And I think that's actually like a really hopeful message.

Um, so I, I only write books where something has made me very mad.

And the reason is that writing a book is torture.

It's just like, it's a lot, you know, writing a book is like, first of all, it's hard, you know, it's just, it's a lot of work.

Um,

And for me, at least, it's a lot of anxiety about whether I'm being clear, whether people are going to get what I'm trying to say, whether the message that I'm writing about that's so incredibly important to me is something that other people are going to care about.

That's hard.

And then...