How do you install a TAP like that? It seems hard to do 10x in a row when you’re currently in “deciding I should have a TAP for this” mode and not already feeling angry/defensive.
(Actually, same question about “when my fridge is empty looking”.)
EDIT: From conversation with other people it sounds like it’s usually sufficient to imagine the trigger and action, in detail, several times.
http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-to-train-noticing.html “I keep a search going on in the background for anything in the neighborhood of the experience I predicted. Odds are good I’ll miss several instances of weak contrary evidence, but as soon as I realize I’ve encountered one, I go into reflective attention so I’m aware of as many details of my immediate subjective experience as possible.”
The thing I’m having trouble with is: at some point in the future, the trigger I’m thinking about will happen. How will I notice/remember that that was a trigger? What can I do now, when the trigger has not yet happened, to make me remember later? I don’t think I know how to keep searches going in the background, or anything like that.
Partial solutions, to gesture at the gap: * Phone alarms for triggers that happen at a specific time (for the first few triggers, before the habit is formed) * Assign someone to watch me 24⁄7 and poke me in the side whenever a desired trigger happens * When I come up with an idea for a TAP, [my single-point-of-reference productivity Google Doc, under the “TAP” section, tells me to] close my eyes and imagine the trigger happening for 5 minutes
I’m confused by the number of posts on TAPs (excluding OP) that gloss over this part.
A lot of the power of TAPs comes when combining them with introspection techniques, so you get:
When I notice that I’m showing signs of anger or defensiveness, take a deep breath and ask myself “what is my goal here?”
When I notice that I’ve flinched away from a thought, look again at that thought
How do you install a TAP like that? It seems hard to do 10x in a row when you’re currently in “deciding I should have a TAP for this” mode and not already feeling angry/defensive.
(Actually, same question about “when my fridge is empty looking”.)
EDIT: From conversation with other people it sounds like it’s usually sufficient to imagine the trigger and action, in detail, several times.
I recommend reading Logan Strohl’s posts on Noticing. I don’t know how well organized they are but I suggest starting here: http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/p/noticing.html
Hmm, these posts feel like they’re skipping over the step I’m asking about, though.
Like, I don’t know how to do either of these things:
http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-art-of-noticing.html “Whenever you notice your trigger, make a precise physical gesture.”
http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-to-train-noticing.html “I keep a search going on in the background for anything in the neighborhood of the experience I predicted. Odds are good I’ll miss several instances of weak contrary evidence, but as soon as I realize I’ve encountered one, I go into reflective attention so I’m aware of as many details of my immediate subjective experience as possible.”
The thing I’m having trouble with is: at some point in the future, the trigger I’m thinking about will happen. How will I notice/remember that that was a trigger? What can I do now, when the trigger has not yet happened, to make me remember later? I don’t think I know how to keep searches going in the background, or anything like that.
Partial solutions, to gesture at the gap:
* Phone alarms for triggers that happen at a specific time (for the first few triggers, before the habit is formed)
* Assign someone to watch me 24⁄7 and poke me in the side whenever a desired trigger happens
* When I come up with an idea for a TAP, [my single-point-of-reference productivity Google Doc, under the “TAP” section, tells me to] close my eyes and imagine the trigger happening for 5 minutes
I’m confused by the number of posts on TAPs (excluding OP) that gloss over this part.