Andrew Critch’s “greedy algorithm”: Whenever you catch yourself really wanting to do something you want to want, immediately reward yourself—by feeding yourself an M&M, or if that’s too difficult, immediately pumping your fist and saying “Yes!”
I’m adopting this. Could someone point me to the source? I tried to google for Andrew Critch’s “greedy algorithm” but haven’t found anything except this LW post. Update: Sent a PM to Andrew, asked for more details.
Update 2:
I tried this for a while but alas, it didn’t stick—I couldn’t find a trigger for this habit. To use programming terms, my brain never fires an event “you’re wanting to do something you want to want”, so I don’t have a place to put the rewarding “habit-code” into.
On the other hand, I do notice when I actually do what I want to want to do, so I started rewarding myself for this, both mentally and physically (e.g. by grabbing some nuts / dried berries from the bowl, taking a good break, bragging to coworkers etc.)
I’m adopting this. Could someone point me to the source? I tried to google for Andrew Critch’s “greedy algorithm” but haven’t found anything except this LW post. Update: Sent a PM to Andrew, asked for more details.
Update 2:
I tried this for a while but alas, it didn’t stick—I couldn’t find a trigger for this habit. To use programming terms, my brain never fires an event “you’re wanting to do something you want to want”, so I don’t have a place to put the rewarding “habit-code” into.
On the other hand, I do notice when I actually do what I want to want to do, so I started rewarding myself for this, both mentally and physically (e.g. by grabbing some nuts / dried berries from the bowl, taking a good break, bragging to coworkers etc.)
Critch, aka Academian, taught it in minicamp and unfortunately has yet to write it up anywhere. I wish he would. pm academian and ask him to :)