Explore and Exploit

In a world of life-long learning, we are faced with a decision every day. Do we explore new things or do we exploit old learnings. There have been numerous studies on this topic, feel free to search for "explore and exploit" for a quick overview. Here are some of my thoughts.

In normal situations, when the stress of life is familiar, we have a bias towards exploring or exploiting. This means that some of us prefer learning new things when we have the ability to choose what's next, and some of us prefer building on or simply using existing knowledge when choosing what is next. Learning new things could be as simple as learning one more song on the guitar or as complex as learning a new language like Russian or Chinese or Swahili. Using existing knowledge could be as simple as playing an old favorite on the guitar or reading a book in your native language

In normal situations, we choose between explore and exploit without even thinking about it.

A twist on this story is stress. How do we choose in times of stress? How do we react when a stressful situation forces into explore when our bias is towards exploit or vice versa?

Stress reveals different biases. In times of stress, some people gravitate towards the familiar. They prefer situations that induce less additional stress and this makes life more manageable. For other people, times of stress increase a desire to try new things. This can appear inconsistent but it is quite normal. Stress encourages us to look for ways to reduce stress. Unconsciously, we know that trying something different can break the chains of stress. At least sometimes. So while times of stress may  make it look like some people are bouncing around as they try new things, this is a common and often unconscious strategy.

External events have influence on how we choose between explore or exploit. Changes in our home, community, or workplace may require us to explore new ideas when we would rather be exploiting existing knowledge. External events and stress are compounding factors. External events will bring their own stress, force your decision on explore and exploit, and trigger the need to choose against your own preference. This is a common challenge which can manifest as feelings of inadequacy of incompetence. It is reasonable to expect that new stresses will make us see areas where we are uncomfortable or less skilled that we would like. It is OK to acknowledge these situations as external factors and not personal failings.

Recognizing your own bias towards explore and exploit and seeing how external stresses influence your ability to pursue your preferred option can help keep stressful situations in perspective. One strategy to manage external events that force you to explore when you would rather exploit is to spend more of your spare time doing things that are familiar. Additionally, if external events force you to repeatedly exploit existing knowledge, you might use your spare time to learn something new - like Chinese or a new recipe.