Two Interesting Articles

Rita Coelho do Vale is an assistant professor at the Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, where she researches the human decision-making process with respect to self-regulation. She says that we not only can but should engage in behaviour antithetical to our ultimate goals.

https://aeon.co/essays/a-lapse-now-and-then-can-benefit-the-pursuit-of-excellence

… research suggests there’s a simple way to make healthy behaviors easier. It’s not about trying to increase your motivation so much as taking advantage of motivation when you do have it. That’s according to BJ Fogg, a psychologist and director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/bj-fogg-how-to-stick-with-habits-2016-3

Comments

[Tommy]

Trying to take these ideas and apply them to my do list... Hmm
I readily admit that there are many times in which I have little desire to do the things on my list. So the question becomes: What could I have done when I did have a desire to work to make it easier for forward progress to be taken when I later feel lazy?
I'm honestly not sure.
A possible solution: identify what I like to do when I'm being lazy. For me, it's often to sit in my chair and aimlessly read a book or two (not from front to back. Rather just pop in for a page or two).
So if lazy me just wants to sit around and sort-of think, could I (during non-lazy times) bring tasks up to the point where further thought is needed, then leave that aspect of the task for later lazy me...
Not sure. But it's got me thinking...

[Cricket]

I agree with Fogg about riding the momentum wave. If I follow it, I get work done well. If I don't, I procrastinate on what I should do, and then when it's time to do what I had wanted, I no longer want to.

Having said that, I need to look at more things than just the momentum wave. Sometimes it tells me to keep working on a large project, at the expense of daily maintenance.

Routines are a way of building a momentum wave. When I'm done A, my body and subconscious know that B comes next. And sometimes, no matter how hard I try, a routine just doesn't gel. Respect that and change the routine.

I dislike do Vale's description of why poor people buy a Snickers bar at the checkout, after being careful in the grocery aisles. The stores purposefully put candy at the checkouts, even in rich areas. People who haven't needed as much discipline in the aisles still fall prey to that last treat.

[Will]

Cricket,

"People who haven't needed as much discipline in the aisles still fall prey to that last treat. "

Unless they have a firm but fair father in attendance, in which case they can be dragged out of the shop before succumbing to a twenty minute, lie-down-and-kick-feet-tantrum in the doorway of a furs shop.

35 years later, I'm still traumatised. Sprog 1 has, of course, blithely forgotten the whole debacle.

Sadly, I don't have enough change for that last bar of chocolate from the office machine, so I'd better pack up and go. (Though I couldn't resist a shot of the blog. Yes, I AM tired, since you ask. Will-power depleted. Easiest just to stay here for a while...)