TAPs are a nice tool if you can actually notice the trigger when it happens. If you are of necessity in the middle of doing something (or more precisely, thinking of something) when the trigger happens, you may forget to implement the action, because you’re too busy thinking about other things. If something happens on a predictable, regular basis, then an alarm is sufficient to get you to notice it, but this is not always the case.
So, how do you actually notice things when you’re in the middle of something and focusing on that?
Option 1: Alter the “something” you are in the middle of. This may be done via forced, otherwise unnecessary repetition of the action and the events leading up to it, or the creation of a deviation in the flow of the thing. The latter is how post-it notes work. This option is useful when logistically feasible, for external actions. The deviation, here, serves to increase your lucidity (the quality required to actually notice “Oh wait, it’s that time again”), leading you to perform the action accordingly. This overlaps somewhat with option 2, below.
Option 2: Constant Vigilance. Notice all the things, all the time. This is a massive boost to the completability of all TAPs if achieved, but probably takes a good deal of mental energy. It also precludes being “in the middle of” things at all, as the flow must be interrupted by “Has a trigger happened?”. It might be possible to combine this with option 1 by weaving Constant Vigilance into a specific procedure otherwise, as starting something affords more lucidity than being in the middle of it. I haven’t tried this yet; results incoming. In fact, I have set an alarm to remind me to post the results of an attempt at this here. One can accomplish some of this during meditation, when attempting to notice all of one’s sensations and/or experiences: one is relatively unlikely to miss the trigger then.
Results: it is hard; harder than meditation. I can get lost in thought easily, though I snapped back often enough to successfully execute the action. I note that any change in the thing I was in the middle of prompted a snapback: no longer lost in thought due to suddenly needing to think about external reality. I expect I will get better at this with time, especially since in this case the action needs to be executed daily.
TAPs are a nice tool if you can actually notice the trigger when it happens. If you are of necessity in the middle of doing something (or more precisely, thinking of something) when the trigger happens, you may forget to implement the action, because you’re too busy thinking about other things. If something happens on a predictable, regular basis, then an alarm is sufficient to get you to notice it, but this is not always the case.
So, how do you actually notice things when you’re in the middle of something and focusing on that?
Option 1: Alter the “something” you are in the middle of. This may be done via forced, otherwise unnecessary repetition of the action and the events leading up to it, or the creation of a deviation in the flow of the thing. The latter is how post-it notes work. This option is useful when logistically feasible, for external actions. The deviation, here, serves to increase your lucidity (the quality required to actually notice “Oh wait, it’s that time again”), leading you to perform the action accordingly. This overlaps somewhat with option 2, below.
Option 2: Constant Vigilance. Notice all the things, all the time. This is a massive boost to the completability of all TAPs if achieved, but probably takes a good deal of mental energy. It also precludes being “in the middle of” things at all, as the flow must be interrupted by “Has a trigger happened?”. It might be possible to combine this with option 1 by weaving Constant Vigilance into a specific procedure otherwise, as starting something affords more lucidity than being in the middle of it. I haven’t tried this yet; results incoming. In fact, I have set an alarm to remind me to post the results of an attempt at this here. One can accomplish some of this during meditation, when attempting to notice all of one’s sensations and/or experiences: one is relatively unlikely to miss the trigger then.
Results: it is hard; harder than meditation. I can get lost in thought easily, though I snapped back often enough to successfully execute the action. I note that any change in the thing I was in the middle of prompted a snapback: no longer lost in thought due to suddenly needing to think about external reality. I expect I will get better at this with time, especially since in this case the action needs to be executed daily.