Anyone have anything to share in the way of good lifehacks? Even if it only works for you, I would very much like to hear about it. Here are two I’ve been using with much success lately:
Get an indoor cycle or a treadmill and exercise while working on a laptop. At first I just used to cycle while watching movies on TV, but lately I’ve stopped watching movies and just cycle while doing SRS reps or reading ebooks. Set up your laptop with its power cable and headphones on the cycle, and leave them there always. If you’re too tired to cycle, just sit on the cycling machine without cycling. The past few days I’ve been cycling upwards of 4 hours cumulatively per day, and I feel AWESOME. It also seems to help me get to sleep at the proper time. I would cycle 4 hours a day just for the sleep benefit.
The part of my brain that loses to akrasia seems incredibly stupid, whereas my long-term planning modules are relatively smart. I’ve been trying to take advantage of this by a campaign of active /warfare/ against the akrasia-prone part of me. For instance, I have deleted all the utilities on my laptop needed for networking. I can no longer browse the internet without borrowing someone else’s computer, as I am doing now. I also can’t get those networking utilities back because for that I need internet. I also destroyed both Ubuntu live-CDs I had, because I can get to the internet through those. Thus far, my willpower has thrice failed me, and each time I have tried to get internet back, and each time I have failed. I count this as a win. The principle is more general, of course: only buy healthy food, literally throw away your television, delete all your computer games, etc.. The first few days without some usual sort of distraction are always painful; I feel depressed and bored of life. But that soon clears up, and my expected-pleasurable-distraction setpoint seems to lower. This is like a way of converting fleeting motivation into long-term motivation.
Anyone have anything to share in the way of good lifehacks? Even if it only works for you, I would very much like to hear about it. Here are two I’ve been using with much success lately:
Get an indoor cycle or a treadmill and exercise while working on a laptop. At first I just used to cycle while watching movies on TV, but lately I’ve stopped watching movies and just cycle while doing SRS reps or reading ebooks. Set up your laptop with its power cable and headphones on the cycle, and leave them there always. If you’re too tired to cycle, just sit on the cycling machine without cycling. The past few days I’ve been cycling upwards of 4 hours cumulatively per day, and I feel AWESOME. It also seems to help me get to sleep at the proper time. I would cycle 4 hours a day just for the sleep benefit.
The part of my brain that loses to akrasia seems incredibly stupid, whereas my long-term planning modules are relatively smart. I’ve been trying to take advantage of this by a campaign of active /warfare/ against the akrasia-prone part of me. For instance, I have deleted all the utilities on my laptop needed for networking. I can no longer browse the internet without borrowing someone else’s computer, as I am doing now. I also can’t get those networking utilities back because for that I need internet. I also destroyed both Ubuntu live-CDs I had, because I can get to the internet through those. Thus far, my willpower has thrice failed me, and each time I have tried to get internet back, and each time I have failed. I count this as a win. The principle is more general, of course: only buy healthy food, literally throw away your television, delete all your computer games, etc.. The first few days without some usual sort of distraction are always painful; I feel depressed and bored of life. But that soon clears up, and my expected-pleasurable-distraction setpoint seems to lower. This is like a way of converting fleeting motivation into long-term motivation.