First, realize, that you’re inherently time-locked: the current self is the only one on which you have some amount of control
Actually, I have managed to cause short-term changes in productivity to my future self but they tend to slowly wear off. This makes me optimistic that there are self-sustaining solutions.
I stopped procrastinating as much and kept more organized. I also spent more overall time on productive activities.
The wearing off was just a slow gradient of falling back into my usual level of productivity. I didn’t notice it immediately as it was happening, only upon reflection.
I guess I worded the question poorly. I mean, what did you change that made you more productive? I’m trying to see if there’s any obvious and fixable reason that it didn’t last. This can require precision in describing your mental state to get right.
I will attempt to do so but I have no way of knowing whether this is accurate or it is just the best rationalization my brain came up with. In addition, I know very little of psychology and my attempt at introspection is probably inadequate to give much useful information.
If I introspect while making a decision I can notice a succession of feelings in response to each other. I tried reflecting upon the experience of making a poor decision and explicitly noticing the affective factors that influenced my decision. I constructed a new feeling which I thought would promote productivity. I attempted to suppress thoughts supporting the poor decision while promoting my constructed feeling whenever I was making a decision related to productivity.
Actually, I have managed to cause short-term changes in productivity to my future self but they tend to slowly wear off. This makes me optimistic that there are self-sustaining solutions.
What were these changes? What was the experience of them wearing off like?
I stopped procrastinating as much and kept more organized. I also spent more overall time on productive activities.
The wearing off was just a slow gradient of falling back into my usual level of productivity. I didn’t notice it immediately as it was happening, only upon reflection.
I guess I worded the question poorly. I mean, what did you change that made you more productive? I’m trying to see if there’s any obvious and fixable reason that it didn’t last. This can require precision in describing your mental state to get right.
I will attempt to do so but I have no way of knowing whether this is accurate or it is just the best rationalization my brain came up with. In addition, I know very little of psychology and my attempt at introspection is probably inadequate to give much useful information.
If I introspect while making a decision I can notice a succession of feelings in response to each other. I tried reflecting upon the experience of making a poor decision and explicitly noticing the affective factors that influenced my decision. I constructed a new feeling which I thought would promote productivity. I attempted to suppress thoughts supporting the poor decision while promoting my constructed feeling whenever I was making a decision related to productivity.