A one-time act of changing your surroundings, physically going somewhere or rearranging stuff, does influence your behavior a lot
Indeed, I reorganized my office a bit this week so that I can easily clear my desk off onto the shelves behind me, and the mood/attitude impact of having a regularly clean desk is noticeable.
However...
Viewing your brain as a complete computer that you ought to modify from inside is an unnecessarily hard approach.
Some things are easier to change from the inside than the outside, though. For example, if you have an aversion to something that you actually need to do, it’s probably easier to get rid of the aversion than to get rid of the need to do it.
For example, if you have an aversion to something that you actually need to do, it’s probably easier to get rid of the aversion than to get rid of the need to do it.
Also, the thing you have an aversion to might be something you have to do a lot, so if you do something about the aversion you’re making future iterations easier. Of course, if you can remove multiple future needs all at once that might be even better.
For example, if you have an aversion to something that you actually need to do, it’s probably easier to get rid of the aversion than to get rid of the need to do it.
I agree with your point, but might I add the caveat here that a lot of people feel they “need” to do things that aren’t actually necessary?
Necessary as in working toward accomplishing some deliberate goal, as opposed to, for instance, behaviors trained in from childhood that take the form of random, arbitrary obligations that serve little purpose.
A typical example is people who were trained to always clear their plate of food rather than waste it; if you’ve eaten your fill you don’t need to keep eating.
Another common one is an excessive focus on tidiness—putting random objects back in place isn’t all that necessary, especially for things that you’re likely to be using again soon. Right now I have some papers and a few books sitting out on my desk—I don’t need to put them away right now, because it would serve no apparent goal that I value, but I’ve known individuals who wouldn’t leave anything sitting out for more than a couple hours if it wasn’t being actively used.
because it would serve no apparent goal that I value, but I’ve known individuals who wouldn’t leave anything sitting out for more than a couple hours if it wasn’t being actively used.
There are programs for behavior modification that attempt to optimize your cleaning/tidying time for you which recommend exactly this behavior. (My girlfriend did this for awhile.) It reduces one’s need for lengthy cleanup sessions. So some of the people you observe doing this are serving a conscious goal.
Clearing one’s plate may well be an optimization for populations that experience famine. In the US, there’s little utility. In Houston, Texas doing this when eating out will almost certainly result in overeating.
So some of the people you observe doing this are serving a conscious goal.
The issue is not whether it’s a good way to tidy, it’s whether keeping things tidy is actually a deliberate goal vs. a trained behavior or perceived obligation.
If it is a deliberate goal that’s fine, but orthogonal to my point.
Indeed, I reorganized my office a bit this week so that I can easily clear my desk off onto the shelves behind me, and the mood/attitude impact of having a regularly clean desk is noticeable.
However...
Some things are easier to change from the inside than the outside, though. For example, if you have an aversion to something that you actually need to do, it’s probably easier to get rid of the aversion than to get rid of the need to do it.
Also, the thing you have an aversion to might be something you have to do a lot, so if you do something about the aversion you’re making future iterations easier. Of course, if you can remove multiple future needs all at once that might be even better.
I agree with your point, but might I add the caveat here that a lot of people feel they “need” to do things that aren’t actually necessary?
Oh sure, in fact that’s often the source of the aversion. ;-)
Like what? What definition of “necessary” do you mean to use?
Necessary as in working toward accomplishing some deliberate goal, as opposed to, for instance, behaviors trained in from childhood that take the form of random, arbitrary obligations that serve little purpose.
Can you give some examples of behavior that is unnecessary in this way?
A typical example is people who were trained to always clear their plate of food rather than waste it; if you’ve eaten your fill you don’t need to keep eating.
Another common one is an excessive focus on tidiness—putting random objects back in place isn’t all that necessary, especially for things that you’re likely to be using again soon. Right now I have some papers and a few books sitting out on my desk—I don’t need to put them away right now, because it would serve no apparent goal that I value, but I’ve known individuals who wouldn’t leave anything sitting out for more than a couple hours if it wasn’t being actively used.
There are programs for behavior modification that attempt to optimize your cleaning/tidying time for you which recommend exactly this behavior. (My girlfriend did this for awhile.) It reduces one’s need for lengthy cleanup sessions. So some of the people you observe doing this are serving a conscious goal.
Clearing one’s plate may well be an optimization for populations that experience famine. In the US, there’s little utility. In Houston, Texas doing this when eating out will almost certainly result in overeating.
The issue is not whether it’s a good way to tidy, it’s whether keeping things tidy is actually a deliberate goal vs. a trained behavior or perceived obligation.
If it is a deliberate goal that’s fine, but orthogonal to my point.
Perhaps it’s orthogonal to your point, but it calls to question one of your examples. The other one seems quite solid.