Augustine on akrasia: the garden and the Greek.
Augustine on akrasia describes a man who has finished deciding yet still cannot act. Old habit is stronger than the untried better thing. The evening decision wins because nothing outside you overrules it. So a deadline, an expectant person, or an unchosen shock must supply the answer.
A garden in book eight.
In book eight of the Confessions, Augustine describes himself in a garden, sick with indecision. He has finished weighing it up and knows he wants it. However, the older habit is still stronger than the better thing he has not tried. The author paraphrases him, since translations differ.
Augustine on akrasia and the Berkeley students.
Sixteen centuries later, students in California transcribed meaningless Greek and put a number on the same afternoon. So try this out loud tonight. At nine in the morning you decide to make the call today. At nine at night you decide on tomorrow. That is morning self vs evening self, same person, same information, and one keeps winning.
Why tomorrow always looks roomier.
It is a Tuesday evening, the dishes are done, and the laptop is open. Tomorrow seems to have more room than tonight. Yet the room has never once been there when you arrived. This is why tonight always loses to tomorrow. Therefore the answer must come from outside you: a deadline, a person, or a shock. Two of those you can arrange tonight.
Answer Augustine on akrasia before you sleep.
Say out loud what you decided at nine this morning and what you decided at nine tonight.
Arrange one outside force tonight, either a deadline someone else sets or a person expecting you.
From the book.
So try this out loud tonight, before you put the book down. The version of you at nine in the morning decides to make the call today. The version of you at nine at night decides to make it tomorrow. Both of those are decisions, made by the same person, holding the same information, a few hours apart. One of them keeps winning. Why is it always that one?
I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start, chapter 8: Why later always wins
Questions about Augustine on akrasia.
What does Augustine on akrasia have to do with starting a business?
He had already decided but could not act. That is the same gap you live in each evening.
Did Augustine use the exact words quoted here?
The author paraphrases rather than quotes, because translations differ and the source line could not be confirmed.
What can override the evening decision?
Something outside you, such as a deadline someone else set, a person expecting you, or a shock you did not choose.
Read the whole chapter.
This lesson covers one section of chapter 8, “Why later always wins”. The book goes further, with the full evidence, the stories and every exercise.
Lessons in this chapter.
- 01 Present bias for effort: why Thursday shrinks.
- 02 Hyperbolic discounting explained: model, not data.
- 03 Commitment device psychology: why 59 per cent chose it.
- 04 Does caring more cause procrastination: no one knows.
- 05 Are entrepreneurs more impatient: about time, yes.
- 06 Accountability partner for goals: one line tonight.
- 07 What if I still don't do it: read the result.
- 08 Augustine on akrasia: the garden and the Greek.