A New Way to Think about Exploitation and Exploration

I've been playing with the differences between exploitation and exploration. 

Exploitation, for the purpose of this discussion, is when you make the choice with the highest expected outcome, for example, I love this trail on this hike. 

Exploration is when you deliberately choose the option with a lesser value or unknown outcome, for example, 'Let’s try a completely new hike!'  

Exploitation is characterized by stability and predictability.

Exploration is seeking out the new, being willing to think beyond the norms, taking risks and challenging the status quo. It's a little risky! Here you, or your business or company, may embrace failures, encourage creativity and invest in research.

While choosing your favourite restaurant, person, meal or hike may make a lot of sense (sometimes), it also may come at the cost of not making a discovery that would have been even better, or from learning something that would serve you well in the future. 

E & E are not mutually exclusive, they can and indeed likely should, be balanced out. My goal for myself is to increase awareness of the options and be purposeful, deliberate and intentional about the choices I am making - not just default to one, mindlessly. 

Now...your life, your version, your plan...

This week, notice if the majority of your choices fall into one camp or another or if they are a nice balance.

Is there an area you would like to explore more but have been yielding to exploitation?

What's getting in your way of exploring more? What one thing can you do to lessen the impact of it?

Are you exploring too much? Is it hindering you at all? Is there an area where just picking the sure thing would make things a whole lot simpler for everyone?

Obviously, there is much more to be said and you can research it on your own if you are interested in more information about this concept; meanwhile, hope I gave you a little something to ponder and share! 

Speaking of sharing, who do you know that may appreciate the GoodeNewsLetter? Please forward it to them so they can sign up here if they'd like.

Ever grateful, Steph  

And if you prefer a 2-minute imperfect video on the E & E subject - ta-da...