I IDC-ed the part of me that wants to go to bed and the part of me that wants to follow through on trying each day’s exercise and posting a comment. I first named them “I should do what naturally feels good” and “I keep commitments”.
“Commitment” was the clear frontrunner (after all, I did do the exercise). There were the usual arguments about why it’s good to keep promises to yourself, about how being that type of person pays dividends, etc.
The other side surprised me. The first thing it said was “It’s not about just doing what’s most pleasurable, it’s about being flexible”. Woah. So I changed its name to “flexibility”and it began to feel like a disagreement between values instead of a fight between protagonist and antagonist (hedonism vs. virtue).
Changing the first side’s name opened the door to many more insights. I won’t bore you with the details of all of them, but the main one was that “people can tell when I’m not flexible” and that they (and I) generally have a better time around me when I’m open and flexible. It also made me realize that I pretty much only commit to myself.
I IDC-ed the part of me that wants to go to bed and the part of me that wants to follow through on trying each day’s exercise and posting a comment. I first named them “I should do what naturally feels good” and “I keep commitments”.
“Commitment” was the clear frontrunner (after all, I did do the exercise). There were the usual arguments about why it’s good to keep promises to yourself, about how being that type of person pays dividends, etc.
The other side surprised me. The first thing it said was “It’s not about just doing what’s most pleasurable, it’s about being flexible”. Woah. So I changed its name to “flexibility”and it began to feel like a disagreement between values instead of a fight between protagonist and antagonist (hedonism vs. virtue).
Changing the first side’s name opened the door to many more insights. I won’t bore you with the details of all of them, but the main one was that “people can tell when I’m not flexible” and that they (and I) generally have a better time around me when I’m open and flexible. It also made me realize that I pretty much only commit to myself.