When my daughter is trying something new and figures it out, she gets what she calls "the sparkle feeling."

· Bits and Bobs 3/17/25
  • When my daughter is trying something new and figures it out, she gets what she calls "the sparkle feeling."
    • Adults might call that "flow state" or "being in the zone of proximal development."
    • Optimize to feel "that sparkle feeling" as much as possible.
    • The sparkle feeling has a half life that is independent of the scope of the achievement.
      • If you achieve something 2x as big, you don't feel the sparkle feeling for 2x as long.
    • Stretch too hard and you'll often be frustrated and give up, and when you do succeed you'll feel it more acutely but it will fade just as fast as it always does, so you won't feel much more of the feeling.
    • If you don't push hard enough the acuteness of the feeling will be less.