The Fun Criterion for Choosing Problems
Pick the problem you would enjoy failing at, not the one you must win.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 72%
Deutsch refuses to name principles and offers a selection rule instead. Do not build from the ground up: you cannot understand cosmology before quantum mechanics, and the foundations-first route never reaches the thing you cared about. Instead, notice specific problems as they appear and fix them. Among the problems you can see, apply the second filter: expect not to solve it, so choose one where the attempt itself is fun. That decouples the payoff from the outcome. The goal-driven alternative fails in both directions. If you miss the gold medal you are the failure you feared becoming, and if you win it there is no problem left and the win is hollow. Rewards are still worth taking when they arrive unasked, but they must never be what the work was for.
Origin
Asked by Naval whether he lives by philosophical principles, Deutsch said certainly not principles, then described how he actually chooses what to work on: fix problems where you see them, and pick ones that look like fun because you probably will not solve them. He contrasted it with the self-help dream-board model and with the ending of Chariots of Fire.
Core principles
- 01Problems are the starting point; you do not need a philosophy built from the ground up.
- 02Work on the problem you have actually noticed, not the one you are supposed to care about.
- 03You will probably fail, so the attempt has to be worth making on its own terms.
- 04Goal-driven striving punishes twice: failure looks like proof, success turns out empty.
- 05Inspiration often does more work than the ideology people credit for their success.
How to run it
- 1
Start from problems you have actually noticed
Take the specific thing that looks wrong to you: a claim on the internet, a gap in quantum mechanics, a broken process at work. The problem you noticed is the legitimate entry point.
Pro tip Working from the ground up means the foundations become the project and you never reach what you cared about.
- 2
Assume you will not solve it
Deutsch's baseline is that a serious problem probably does not get solved by you. Plan on that basis rather than on the assumption of success.
Watch out Making a beeline for the most interesting problem while assuming you will crack it sets you up for the goal trap.
- 3
Apply the fun criterion
Ask whether the attempt would be worth making if it fails. Keep only the problems that pass. Fun here means the process is intrinsically rewarding, not that the problem is easy.
Pro tip Two problems of equal importance are not equal candidates; the tiebreak is which one you would enjoy losing to.
- 4
Detach the payoff from the outcome
Do not stake your happiness on winning. If the medal is the only source of satisfaction, both outcomes are bad ones. The work has to pay you while you are doing it.
Watch out Ladder-climbing framings such as being world number one are the exact structure Deutsch calls terribly dangerous.
- 5
Take rewards, never work for them
If money or recognition arrives for work you were doing anyway, accept it and pass it on if you like. Deutsch draws a hard line between that and accepting money to work on something you would not otherwise choose.
Pro tip Refusing an unasked-for prize is a signal that something else is going on, not evidence of purity.
- 6
Let spontaneity redirect you
When a new problem appears and looks like fun, follow it rather than defending a rigid plan. The criterion is applied continuously, not once a year.
Pro tip Log what you switched to and why; the pattern shows you which problems actually hold your attention.
In the wild
Deutsch reaches for Chariots of Fire as the clean illustration. The athlete invests every hope in the gold medal and being world number one. Deutsch's point is that this bet cannot pay: lose and you are permanently the failure you were trying not to be; win and the problem is gone, with nothing left underneath the achievement. He notes it is a genuine surprise in the film that the winner is not happy at the end, and that whoever wrote it understood the lesson.
→ The goal is achieved and the satisfaction does not arrive, which is the failure mode the fun criterion is designed to avoid.
Deutsch and Naval discuss a Russian mathematician who refused a set of awards, including one worth around a million dollars. Deutsch separates two very different cases. Accepting a million to work on something you would not otherwise have chosen violates the criterion. Being paid a million for work you were doing for its own sake does not, and Deutsch says take it, then give it away if you prefer. Refusal in that second case tells him something else is going on that has not been explained.
→ The criterion applies to what you choose to work on, not to whether you accept payment for work already chosen.
Common mistakes
Building a life philosophy from the ground up
Trying to settle foundations before touching the real problem guarantees you never get to the real problem. Deutsch's example is trying to understand cosmology before quantum mechanics.
Making the goal the only source of happiness
If the medal is the payoff, failure makes you the failure you feared and success empties the problem out. Both outcomes are worse than enjoying the attempt.
Reading the fun criterion as do only easy things
Deutsch applies it to problems he expects to fail at, such as open questions in physics. The filter is intrinsic reward during the work, not low difficulty.
Is it for you?
Best for
Researchers, writers, founders and anyone with real discretion over what they work on next.
Not ideal for
Assigned work with fixed deliverables and deadlines, where the problem is not yours to pick.
From the transcript
“I don't think it's a good idea to try and work from the ground out I think it's a good idea to try and fix…”
“so you solve specific problems as you see problems and those problems which seem like fun”
“it should be something where you expect to have fun whether you solve it or not”
From the episode
The Deutsch Files I