# Defaults Something I’m working on: *embracing* the idea that I’m going to forget almost everything, almost all of the time. With that in mind, what can I do so that *even when I forget to create good*, the baseline is *already* good all by itself? In programming, this is the practice of creating helpful defaults. A piece of code is often customizable (if it’s for sending email, for example, you’d need to feed it a recipient address, a subject line, etc), but there are often things that are *optionally* customizable (not every email needs a cc or a bcc)—and for *those* things, it’s up to the coder to set reasonable defaults (reasonable: nobody is cc’d by default; unreasonable, probably: Eddie Izzard is cc’d by default). This shows up *everywhere* in life. Anytime I’m not doing something on purpose, a default takes the stage. If I’m not thinking about what I’m wearing in the morning, I’ll wear what I’m used to wearing, I’ll do what I’m used to doing, and – critically – I’ll *feel* the way I’m *used* to feeling. A poorly-chosen default is debilitating, like a thermostat that resets to an unlivable temperature at 3am. A well-chosen default is liberating, like coming home to a place that feels like *you*. Life is *mostly* defaults, I think, maintaining our momentum in whatever direction we’re facing. We *do* get a choice, on all of this, but *exercising* that choice requires awareness and effort – and we’ve got a limited supply of those on any given day. I can’t reasonably expect myself to be making conscious choices every moment of the day, but I *can* make conscious choices about setting my defaults. And *those* choices have an effect over and over and over again, every time the default is revisited. My relationship with Abe: a positive, helpful, life-giving default. My food habits: healthy defaults. The people I interact with on a regular basis: each person is someone I’ve *chosen* to be a part of my day-to-day defaults. And *because* all of these defaults set me up really well, when I *do* need to exercise conscious choice, *I am primed to choose well!* I’m *used* to feeling supported by my environment, and so I make choices that are grounded in trust and optimism. I’m *used* to feeling healthy and rested, so I make choices based on the best of me, not the worst of me. And get this: as much as I’m describing an act of “choice”, even *that process* is inherently filled with defaults *in the form of bias*. My *prior* defaults have pointed my attention in a certain direction, attuned me to certain elements and ideas – and so when I *do* make a choice, *even that* is informed and supported by my defaults. The defaults I have now were established slowly – beginning with one small and quiet hopeful choice, fifteen years ago, from the silent dark of deep depression. And then, more, and better, and *lighter*, feeling my way for understanding in a moment, and then assigning that understanding to a *default*, where it could serve me again when I forgot to remember. This is what I’m doing here, in every moment I can: finding the light in *the one thing* I can focus on at a time, and leaving that dial set, as I turn my attention to the next. {% hint style="info" %} Originally published at {% endhint %}