Who’s in a Name? Aspirational Appellations for Self-Improvement

We label other people frequently.

“Michelle is a huge gossip.”
“Mike is kind of a loner.”
“Denise is a real ‘type A’.”

Such simplifying descriptions help us predict the likely behavior of individuals with whom we interact by ascribing to them a fixed character which (we suppose) determines that individual’s actions. When applied to groups of people with one or more immediately presenting and distinguishing shared attributes, this simplification process produces the familiar racial, cultural, social, and sexual stereotypes. While such crude character models may be useful in guiding early interactions, they typically oversimplify and frequently inaccurately predict the behavior of others, who respond in ways that depend on complex inner factors and are also heavily determined by context and environmental priming.

That latter factor of external influence can also contribute to the opposite phenomenon, whereby labels over-determine behavior. When we label someone, that label guides our expectations of and interactions with him or her, which, in turn, influences his or her behavior. At the extreme, we accept and internalize the labels others give us and those we ascribe to ourselves as we observe our own behavior. I touched upon the trap of over-identification with one’s present professional title in a previous post. Individual over-identification with one or more character labels can lead to a fixed mindset that impedes learning and personal development.

However, psychological research suggests that the same process might be turned on its head. If we intentionally apply aspirational appellations, we can help motivate and sustain desired change in ourselves and others. That implication inspired me to reflect on names I might like to be called, labels which imply positive simplifying stereotypes, ones that are perhaps ill-fitting at present, but provide an appealing shape for me to grow into.

Freelance Philosopher

“Wisdom is the only true and unalloyed coin, for which all others must be given in exchange.” —Socrates

Motivation

The word philosophy derives from the Greek philo and sophia, translating as ‘love’ and ‘wisdom’, respectively. At the most literal level a philosopher is someone who loves wisdom. Plato used the term to distinguish amateur wisdom-seekers like Socrates, who probed the eternal verities of truth, beauty, goodness, and unity for their own sakes, from the professional sophists who earned a living teaching their brands of argumentation without careful regard for underlying truth.

While I may not possess the profundity of those great early amateurs, I am inspired to imitate their example and attempt to live a thoughtfully examined life as my circumstances allow. Given my other life choices, that examination will be a freelance affair, in the sense of it being an independent, not education- nor professionally-related pursuit, though not necessarily in the sense that itself is a paid pastime. (However, at this stage in my career, I should hope that I am getting paid in part for whatever wisdom I have accumulated. Since I am presently self-employed, another level of meaning hides here.)

In the first draft of this section, I identified “nerd” as my desired label. Then I realized that for me, “nerd” is a fully actualized, not aspirational, self-stereotype, as the remainder of this reflection will amply demonstrate. While I wear the label with pride, “nerd” suggests a narrowness of intellectualism that I now seek to transcend. Though I only wish to deepen my commitment to the technical competence, scientific knowledge, and evidence-based inquiry that the nerd appellation implies, I also aspire to more fully embrace the intellectual domains of the humanities and their complementary modes of inquiry and appreciation, to embrace the “third culture” which integrates science and the arts, as I think a “lover of wisdom” should embrace all legitimate modes of knowing.

So I am using philosopher in its broadest sense, as a passionate truth-seeker and well-rounded intellectual, not necessarily a practitioner of the academic subject in which I earned my undergraduate degree, though the “big” questions in epistemology, ontology, ethics, as well as the rigorous, argument and evidence-based approaches of the field of study we now call philosophy remain absolutely central to my interests.

Self Assessment

Where am I on the path to becoming a good freelance philosopher? I have no certain knowledge of appropriate metrics for a lover of wisdom, so answering the question in the abstract is challenging. In this self-examination, I’ll step further away from using Socrates as my exemplar, as I’m at present unwilling to launch into an extended conceptual analysis of ‘The Good’ qua philosopher. In this case I’m not trying to define a universal benchmark, merely establish a guidepost for my own development, which allows for a more modest and idiosyncratic analysis. In doing so, I’ll first draw a simple distinction between interior and exterior knowing. (Yes, I know I’ve made the classic metaphysical mistake of assuming a subject/object distinction, but it’s quite a convenient starting point.)

Prolific Producer

Motivation

Self Assessment

Motivation

Having cut mammals out of my diet entirely, I’ve come along way from regular indulgence in my former favorite meal of a patty melt and fries and am proud to be part of the National Weight Control Registry for having lost and kept off those 60 pounds. It’s been a long and slow path, and (in my sheltered, comfortable, “first world” life) one of the most difficult things I’ve accomplished.

My primary tools have been self-education and self monitoring. Reading The Hacker’s Diet prompted me to count calories, since my internal hunger signals did not seem to correspond to my body’s true caloric needs. I now have more than 5000 days of food logs in my custom Wellness Watcher database. My self-education on nutrition and health and subsequent dietary changes have brought the correlation of perceived hunger to intake in much closer alignment. My primary dietary modification has been minimizing (sometimes severely) highly processed and high-glycemic load foods, especially those containing sugars and grains, substituting non-starchy vegetables, fish and poultry proteins, and healthy fats from nuts, butter, and select vegetable oils. I’ve found these whole foods filling and nourishing without spiking blood sugar, which leads to self-stoking cycles of energy peaks and crashes (often followed by crash-induced refeeding), followed by increased fat storage from elevated insulin levels provoked by elevated blood sugar. More recently, I’ve found success in using intermittent fasting (basically skipping meals and eating in a shorter time window instead of every few hours) to break through long-standing fat loss plateaus.

I’ve also slowly made strides in regularly engaging in exercise, that second great pillar of health. While studies demonstrate that exercise doesn’t significantly improve fat loss, it is foundational for general health and longevity. Of particular interest to me as a self-professed nerd has been the recent research that exercise increases neurogenesis, improves cognitive function, and is associated with prevention of cognitive decline and dementia in aging. It’s also shown to be as effective as prescription drugs against depression. Harvard exercise expert John Ratey has likened exercise to “taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin”.

While my current cushy work-from-home arrangement has obviated the 11-mile round-trip bicycle commute I practiced most days at my last job, I have endeavored to maintain a baseline of physical activity. My goal has been to make exercise a habit, so that I don’t have to struggle to initiate. I have therefore made it a daily practice and worked it into my morning routine. Most days it’s very small, typically just two sets of superset free weight resistance training or held-to-exhaustion hatha yoga poses, cycling between major muscle groups. I opportunistically alternate (and some days supplement) this with aerobic exercise consisting of whatever chores present themselves: mowing the lawn with my manual push reel mower, digging garden beds, shoveling snow, bicycling to get groceries.

Growth Goals

While I have lost and kept off a lot of excess weight and have gained the approval from my primary care physician for healthy biomarkers, I see myriad opportunities for improvement, as my self-education on the topic has far outstripped my will to change. To start, while resveratrol may do me some good, I would be well served to moderate my red wine intake to be consistent with my goal of profound productivity. In addition, while my love of cheese may prevent me from ever achieving the environmental, ethical, and (arguably) health ideal of an entirely plant-based diet, I am increasingly convinced that it’s at least time for me to take the next step on that path by limiting animal product consumption, with the eventual goal of phasing out poultry (with the probable exception of the annual ritual sacrifice of a Thanksgiving turkey). As importantly, given my mostly sedentary professional pursuits and personal proclivities, I know I need to move more, even in small ways, during the day, as is made clear by the research on the negative health impacts of prolonged sitting. Finally, I’ve been intrigued by the cancer-preventing potential and general prophylactic effects of extended fasting.