Brian Klaas

And so when I think about the snooze button effect, it's a reminder that, yes, I don't have control. I don't know how the effects of that choice will play out. I find this incredibly liberating and incredibly empowering. And there's two reasons for that.

One is that it's liberating because it means that with a little bit less control, I should take less credit for my success and less blame for my failure. The stakes are a little lower because I'm not the sole author of the story of my life. There's countless authors that are constantly writing little bits of my story.

One is that it's liberating because it means that with a little bit less control, I should take less credit for my success and less blame for my failure. The stakes are a little lower because I'm not the sole author of the story of my life. There's countless authors that are constantly writing little bits of my story.

One is that it's liberating because it means that with a little bit less control, I should take less credit for my success and less blame for my failure. The stakes are a little lower because I'm not the sole author of the story of my life. There's countless authors that are constantly writing little bits of my story.

But it's also extremely uplifting and I think empowering because it means that there is no moment of our lives that is a throwaway moment. There's not a single moment of our existence that doesn't matter because every single moment is producing these ripple effects. And even when we're unaware of them, they matter.

But it's also extremely uplifting and I think empowering because it means that there is no moment of our lives that is a throwaway moment. There's not a single moment of our existence that doesn't matter because every single moment is producing these ripple effects. And even when we're unaware of them, they matter.

But it's also extremely uplifting and I think empowering because it means that there is no moment of our lives that is a throwaway moment. There's not a single moment of our existence that doesn't matter because every single moment is producing these ripple effects. And even when we're unaware of them, they matter.

So the moment that a baby is conceived, if there is any millisecond difference in that moment, a different child is born, right? Now we sort of all intuitively understand that, but if you actually think about what that means, it means that on the day of conception, if you stop to have a sip of coffee, or if you don't, you have a different kid.

So the moment that a baby is conceived, if there is any millisecond difference in that moment, a different child is born, right? Now we sort of all intuitively understand that, but if you actually think about what that means, it means that on the day of conception, if you stop to have a sip of coffee, or if you don't, you have a different kid.

So the moment that a baby is conceived, if there is any millisecond difference in that moment, a different child is born, right? Now we sort of all intuitively understand that, but if you actually think about what that means, it means that on the day of conception, if you stop to have a sip of coffee, or if you don't, you have a different kid.

But that's true for the day before and the day before that and the day before that. All of those things in our lives that culminate in that one moment when the baby is conceived had to be exactly as they were for that child to be born. This is the phrase that I borrow from the social scientist Scott Page, where he says that we control nothing, but we influence everything.

But that's true for the day before and the day before that and the day before that. All of those things in our lives that culminate in that one moment when the baby is conceived had to be exactly as they were for that child to be born. This is the phrase that I borrow from the social scientist Scott Page, where he says that we control nothing, but we influence everything.

But that's true for the day before and the day before that and the day before that. All of those things in our lives that culminate in that one moment when the baby is conceived had to be exactly as they were for that child to be born. This is the phrase that I borrow from the social scientist Scott Page, where he says that we control nothing, but we influence everything.

The way I sometimes describe this is imagine a world of perfect control, right? Where you could pick everything that happened in your life. It would be the most dystopian hellscape you could imagine. If uncertainty was eliminated, imagine that you knew when you were 10 years old exactly who you were going to marry. Imagine if you knew the exact moment of your death, right?

The way I sometimes describe this is imagine a world of perfect control, right? Where you could pick everything that happened in your life. It would be the most dystopian hellscape you could imagine. If uncertainty was eliminated, imagine that you knew when you were 10 years old exactly who you were going to marry. Imagine if you knew the exact moment of your death, right?

The way I sometimes describe this is imagine a world of perfect control, right? Where you could pick everything that happened in your life. It would be the most dystopian hellscape you could imagine. If uncertainty was eliminated, imagine that you knew when you were 10 years old exactly who you were going to marry. Imagine if you knew the exact moment of your death, right?

For a lot of us, it would be incredibly crippling. And the moments of creativity, of serendipity, of joy, I mean, if you think about all those moments in your life that really stuck with you, how many of them were planned beforehand to a T, right?

For a lot of us, it would be incredibly crippling. And the moments of creativity, of serendipity, of joy, I mean, if you think about all those moments in your life that really stuck with you, how many of them were planned beforehand to a T, right?

For a lot of us, it would be incredibly crippling. And the moments of creativity, of serendipity, of joy, I mean, if you think about all those moments in your life that really stuck with you, how many of them were planned beforehand to a T, right?

Even in the planned events that we have, like a celebration, a wedding, a birthday, whatever, often the stuff we remember the most is the unplanned flourish. You know, when the uncle did this unexpected thing on the dance floor or whatever. So we pretend that uncertainty is always bad. And sometimes it is. I mean, a cancer diagnosis is scary and you don't know what's going to happen.