The Pragmatic Adaptation Approach To Change

Another broad philosophy towards the question of changing or improving your social skills is what you could call the Pragmatic Adaptation approach. I hardly invented this idea though. It's something people have always done. I just slapped a particular name on it that helped me understand the concept. As nearby articles talk about, two other approaches are being true to yourself and not changing, and truly trying to change.

None of these philosophies are an all-or-nothing proposition. Depending on their goals and values, each person is going to have their own mix of social areas where they stay true to themselves, legitimately try to change their personality, or adopt a practical attitude of going along to get along. This article will go into detail about the last of those three.

Main ideas of the pragmatic adaptation approach

The core concept of this approach is that there are aspects of the social world that aren't going to change anytime soon, and that it can just be practical to know a thing or two about handling them. Going against the grain may just cause too much of a hassle. There may be certain social rewards someone feels they can't access if they stay 100% true to themselves.

Some well known examples are learning to mingle at parties, or getting the hang of making light small talk. A lot of people feel like they don't naturally enjoy these activities, but they've decided it's easier on the whole to learn how to do them. Some other areas where people may be practical are:

Playing along on the surface

Another key part of this approach is that you're conscious of what you're doing. You're aware you're making a calculated attempt to adapt to the world to make your life easier or get something they want. So a guy may decide superficially keep up with some sports news because he's found it makes it simpler to chat to his co-workers. However, deep down he knows he doesn't totally care about what player got traded where, or who's still out with a concussion. When you're doing the pragmatic adaptation thing you're keeping your core preferences and values intact and just choosing to make little concessions here and there.

Being true to yourself is still the best option if you can manage it

Being practical is a compromise. Yeah, you go in knowing the trade off you're making, and hopefully you're getting more out of it than it's taking away. Still, if you can somehow figure out how the approach a situation in a way that allows you to be true to your tendencies and not have to change, than that's obviously way better.

It's that 'if' that's tricky. It can be hard to tell if you should pragmatically adapt or if you can mange to stay true to yourself. Sometimes someone will take the practical route and then realize later that there was a way they could have been been true to themselves all along. Two situations may look similar on the surface as well, but because of all kinds of more subtle details, they offer different opportunities to stay in line with your default values.

Adapting adds new facets to your personality, it doesn't overwrite anything

If someone learns some more conversational skills, or figures out how to handle loud, boisterous groups, or gets into snowboarding so they can meet more people, then they're adding a new 'module' to themselves. All their old interests and traits are still intact. Nothing gets erased or replaced. It's just that the new module gives them a skill they can turn on or turn off when its required.

For example, someone's natural preference may be to spend a lot of time alone reading or walking in nature. They've also decided that even though they're not crazy about house parties, it's important that they go to them occasionally. So 99% of the time they still get to do their hanging out alone thing, but when they want to, they have the option of switching into 'party mode'.

Or someone's far and away main interest may be Russian history. They may decide that that alone isn't enough to help them meet and relate to people, so they take on some other hobbies as well. They still get to be interested in the history, but they now have some other topics to turn to when it comes to making conversation or connecting with others.

Everyone makes at least some social concessions

To a degree we all have to be practical and adjust how we'd like to act by 'default' in order to fit into social norms. It's easy to think of more extreme examples, like how you can't walk around in public naked. It's probably too idealistic to think that every single person in the world can somehow get everything they want out of the social world without ever having to adjust a single aspect of themselves.

Deciding what to be practical about

Everyone is going to make their own decisions about which areas they're willing to practically adjust, and which ones they won't compromise on. Like one person may feel spending enough time alone is extremely important, and would never think of changing that. Someone else may have no problem with the idea of cutting down their alone time so they can be seen as more social in the office. There are no right or wrong answers. What makes perfect sense to one person, someone else may think is ridiculous.

Here are some considerations on whether to be practical about something:

• What is your overall reaction to the idea of being practical and 'going along to get along'? Some people really don't like this philosophy and equate it with selling out. They don't have a very high opinion of the idea of fitting in. Other people feel differently and couldn't care less about making some changes to get what they want. Their attitude literally is practical or pragmatic.
• Do you perceive the reward that comes from being pragmatic outweighs the benefits of being more true to your natural tendencies? For example, someone may want more friends, and decide gaining that is more important than their desire to never have to talk about pop culture. Another big example is the social things people do to try and advance in their careers.
• Is making the practical change relatively easy? If it seems it will be hard, it may be more trouble than it's worth. I mean this in the sense of it not seeming overly difficult and frustrating to learn (e.g., someone may not be crazy about figuring out how to make small talk, and hardly be able to pick it up overnight, but decide they can acquire basics easily enough if they put their mind to it). I also mean 'easy' in the sense of whether it just feels good for your soul. With some practical changes, they just feel 'off' on a core level and will slowly make us miserable. Other ones don't seem to affect us that much.
• Do you particularly care about the area one way or another? It's easier to be practical about something and go the path of least resistance if your feelings about it are pretty neutral. For example, someone may not be too concerned with fashion, and decide if it doesn't matter to them, they may as well be practical and dress half-decently since people think looks are important.

Sometimes a side-effect of being practical is discovering new things you legitimately like

Sometimes a person will initially approach something with the attitude of, "I don't really like this, but I'm going to learn it because it's important to know", and once they get a little more experience with it they realize they actually enjoy it. Like at first someone may think they don't like loud, crazy parties, but come to decide they're really fun.

Downsides of the pragmatic adaptation approach

There are easy to see tradeoffs when you go this route. The biggest problem with it is that it can make some people unhappy to follow it. They can get this unpleasant sense that they're betraying themselves, being fake, and compromising on too many things. They may also resentfully hold the attitude of "The world is so unfair. Why are things like this, where I have to force myself to do something I don't care about?" It's important to pick and choose which areas you want to be practical about and which ones you won't budge on.