confessions of a recovering midwit

READ TIME: 6 min | why i'm so trash at hitting my goals

tadzio dlugolecki

Jan 14, 2024

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while reviewing old journals and resolutions, i noticed a concerning trend...

to my surprise, i actually hit some of them.

but this isn’t a victory lap. because here’s the thing…

those goals were set in 2020.

and i was about to enter 2024.

not ideal.

///

which got me thinking. why am i so shit at hitting my goals?

in a painful moment of realization, the issue became clear.

i’ve been a midwit.

midwit… huh??

for the uninitiated, allow me to introduce you to what some have called “the greatest meme of our generation”.

...if memes had founding fathers, george mack would be the george washington of the midwit meme - having blessed us with many a nobel-worthy tweet storms on the matter.

with that prelude, it’s time you meet:

the midwit meme

our cast of characters:

the dimwit (left) — they come to simple conclusions without considering the complexities.
the litwit (right) - this enlightened jedi in a bathrobe realizes that complexity is overrated and returns to simplicity.
the midwit (middle) - overanalyzes everything. believing that complexity is superior to simplicity.

how’s this relate to resolutions?

to understand why we’re so trash at our resolutions, we must first understand the midwit.

take me as an example.

i’m a prolific planner. a master architect of schemes.

but here’s the thing with architecture (and why i dropped it halfway through school) — if you’re lucky, 1/10th of your projects will ever see the light of day.

my hit rate for goals was on a similar trajectory.

lots of plans. not much to show for them.

i thought my masterful plans were a shortcut to success. that i was smarter than the rest. others toil away their time on this “work hard” thing — but i had a better solution all these dumb dumbs had missed.

i was arrogant.

and it wasn’t working out.

in 2023 i decided i had had enough.

i made 2023 the year of “now”.

no more planning. just doing.

the year of now would be an antidote to my midwittery.

and it worked.

all of modern man’s fears boil down to two things

to frame the rest of this discussion, we’re going to focus on a hypothetical new years resolution of “get fit”.

it might not be your resolution, but the same principles apply no matter your goal.

and though i’m reluctant to invoke tim ferriss, the older i get, the more i see the truth in this nugget of his:

the major fears of modern man can be boiled down to two things:
too much e-mail
getting fat

so with this goal in mind, you devise a 17-step plan to lean body nirvana.

you’ve ordered the AG1, supergut, renewed your gym membership and your parasocial relationship with huberman has reached new heights as you spend every waking moment with him in your ear, whispering sweet nothings about 15 minutes of direct sunlight and neck strengthening exercises.

oh, that’s not you? my bad, making it about me again.

this is CLASSIC midwit shit. and yet, i still do it.

what’s our cast of characters have to say about this goal?

the dimwit says something obvious: “eat food*, not too much.”
- *food = real food, not the industrially produced edible product we’ve come to call “food”.
the midwit will overcomplicate, overoptimize, or overanalyze the situation.
nooo, you need a continuous glucose monitor, ketogenic diet, no sugar, 30g of protein within 30 min of waking, and some of that supergut shit.”
now let’s check in with the litwit. we’ll consult with peter attia, longevity doctor to the billionaire class — to get his take. in a recent interview, he summed up his approach to nutrition simply:
- the #1 thing he pays attention to? not eating junk.
- after that, it’s all about energy balance (listening to his body)

pretty simple, no?

///

put even simpler:

what’s wrong with the midwit?

the midwit overcomplicates things thinking they’ve found a clever shortcut to their goals.

but they haven’t.

these cockamamie plans send them on a wild goose chase that often ends with them being further from their goal than when they began. they’re exhausted, directionless, and feeling hopeless. after all, if their 17-step plan didn’t work, what will?

why we’re prone to midwittery

complexity is sexy. it sells better.

it gives the appearance of a shortcut. of knowing what you’re doing.

in same as ever1, morgan housel explains:

complexity gives a comforting impression of control while simplicity is difficult to distinguish from cluelessness. (tadz note: the dimwit’s solution looks ~earily~ close to that of the litwit)

housel continues:

the more knobs you can fiddle with the more control you feel you have over the situation, because the impression of knowledge increases. only paying attention to a few variables while ignoring everything else can make you look ignorant, even if it’s the right thing to do.

if your boss asks “hey, what about this thing over there?” and you say “i have no idea, i don’t look at that” — you’ll sound like a total bozo out of their depths, rather than a sage rick rubin type mf who has mastered the art of simplicity.

“everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. the five ascending levels of intellect are: smart, intelligent, brilliant, genius, simple.”
albert einstein

the midwit thinks they’re “smart”.

the dimwit and litwit are simple.

the cure for midwittery

1st - beware the midwit lives within all of us.
to avoid midwit syndrome requires a healthy dose of humility. to admit you’ll never be the litwit.
2nd - once you’ve abandoned that notion, you can focus your efforts on being the dimwit.
find the simple ideas - and take them seriously.
okay, how?
3rd - inversion
if you want to become the dimwit: write down your goal, write down how you'd ensure failure, and avoid that.
example: "i want to become happier in 2024"
the midwit will start researching complex nootropics or esoteric gurus on the meaning of life.
instead, how would you ensure you were miserable in 2024?
1. awful sleep
2. terrible diet and exercise
3. do things you hate
4. surround yourself with terrible people
///
now you've found the simple ideas the dimwit will come up with:
1. good sleep
2. great diet and exercise
3. do things you enjoy
4. surround yourself with the best people you know.
///
before you look at any complex solutions, make sure you've maxed out the simple solutions.
when in doubt, ask yourself... "what simple idea would the idiot and the genius agree upon?"