Akrasia-related but not yet on lesswrong. Perhaps someone will incorporate these in the next akrasia round-up:
1) Fogg model of behavior. Fogg’s methods beat akrasia because he avoids dealing with motivation. Like “execute by default”, you simply make a habit by tacking some very easy to perform task onto something you already do. Here is a slideshare that explains his “tiny habits” and an online, guided walkthrough course. When I took the course, I did the actions each day, and usually more than those actions. (IE every time I sat down, I plugged in my drawing tablet, which got me doing digital art basically automatically unless I could think of something much more important to do). For those who don’t want to click through, here are example “tiny habits” which over time can become larger habits:
“After I brush, I will floss one tooth.”
“After I start the dishwasher, I will read one sentence from a book.”
“After I walk in my door from work, I will get out my workout clothes.”
“After I sit down on the train, I will open my sketch notebook.”
“After I put my head on the pillow, I will think of one good thing from my day.”
“After I arrive home, I will hang my keys up by the door.”
2) The Practicing Mind. The author confronts the relatively mundane nature of most productive human activity. He works on pianos for a living, doing some of the most repetitive work imaginable. As he says: “out of sheer survival, I began to develop an ability to get lost in the process of doing something.” In general, I think the book details the way a person ought to approach work: being “present” with the work, focused on the process and not the product, being evaluative and not judgmental about work, to not try too hard but instead let yourself work.
I’ll share one concrete suggestion. Work slowly. “[S]lowness… is a paradox. What I mean by slow is that you work at a pace that allows you to pay attention to what you are doing. This pace will differ according to your personality and the task.… If you are washing the car, you are moving the sponge in your hand at a slow enough pace that allows you to observe your actions in detail as you clean the side of your car. This will differ from, say, the slow pace at which you will learn a new computer program. If you are aware of what you are doing and you are paying attention to what you are doing, then you are probably working at the appropriate pace. The paradox of slowness is that you will find you accomplish the task more quickly with less effort because you are not wasting energy. Try it and you will see.” He gives the example of working slowly during his work and paradoxically finishing sooner. I can’t comment on the time aspect personally, but at least giving myself permission to work slowly increases the likelihood of paying deep attention to a project as well as not stressing.
I don’t know Thomas Sterner or have any business with the guy. Same thing for Fogg, and his online course is free since he’s doing it to collect data. So it’s not an advertisement in that sense.
Akrasia/procrastination is one of my main interests so I wanted to share some info that I hadn’t seen on the site but helped me.
Akrasia-related but not yet on lesswrong. Perhaps someone will incorporate these in the next akrasia round-up:
1) Fogg model of behavior. Fogg’s methods beat akrasia because he avoids dealing with motivation. Like “execute by default”, you simply make a habit by tacking some very easy to perform task onto something you already do. Here is a slideshare that explains his “tiny habits” and an online, guided walkthrough course. When I took the course, I did the actions each day, and usually more than those actions. (IE every time I sat down, I plugged in my drawing tablet, which got me doing digital art basically automatically unless I could think of something much more important to do). For those who don’t want to click through, here are example “tiny habits” which over time can become larger habits: “After I brush, I will floss one tooth.” “After I start the dishwasher, I will read one sentence from a book.” “After I walk in my door from work, I will get out my workout clothes.” “After I sit down on the train, I will open my sketch notebook.” “After I put my head on the pillow, I will think of one good thing from my day.” “After I arrive home, I will hang my keys up by the door.”
2) The Practicing Mind. The author confronts the relatively mundane nature of most productive human activity. He works on pianos for a living, doing some of the most repetitive work imaginable. As he says: “out of sheer survival, I began to develop an ability to get lost in the process of doing something.” In general, I think the book details the way a person ought to approach work: being “present” with the work, focused on the process and not the product, being evaluative and not judgmental about work, to not try too hard but instead let yourself work.
I’ll share one concrete suggestion. Work slowly. “[S]lowness… is a paradox. What I mean by slow is that you work at a pace that allows you to pay attention to what you are doing. This pace will differ according to your personality and the task.… If you are washing the car, you are moving the sponge in your hand at a slow enough pace that allows you to observe your actions in detail as you clean the side of your car. This will differ from, say, the slow pace at which you will learn a new computer program. If you are aware of what you are doing and you are paying attention to what you are doing, then you are probably working at the appropriate pace. The paradox of slowness is that you will find you accomplish the task more quickly with less effort because you are not wasting energy. Try it and you will see.” He gives the example of working slowly during his work and paradoxically finishing sooner. I can’t comment on the time aspect personally, but at least giving myself permission to work slowly increases the likelihood of paying deep attention to a project as well as not stressing.
Is this an advertisement? Are you the author, or do you copperate with the author?
I don’t know Thomas Sterner or have any business with the guy. Same thing for Fogg, and his online course is free since he’s doing it to collect data. So it’s not an advertisement in that sense.
Akrasia/procrastination is one of my main interests so I wanted to share some info that I hadn’t seen on the site but helped me.