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dejb comments on Defeating Ugh Fields In Practice - Less Wrong
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I have had success working around 'Ugh' reactions to various activities. I took the direct approach. I (intermittently) use nicotine lozenges as a stimulant while exercising. Apart from boosting physical performance and motivation it also happens to be the most potent substance I am aware of for increasing habit formation in the brain.
Perhaps more important than the, you know, chemical sledge hammer, is the fact that the process of training myself in that way brings up "anti-Ugh" associations. I love optimisation in general and self improvement in particular. I am also fascinated by pharmacology and instinctively 'cheeky'. Having never even considered smoking a cigarette and yet using the disreputable substance 'nicotine' in a way that can be expected to have improvements to my health and well-being is exactly the sort of thing I know my brain loves doing.
I'm curious as to whether you've ever been an addicted cigarette smoker before? For those of us who have I suspect the risks of a total relapse to smoking (as opposed to other delivery methods) would be too great. I can image it could be effective though.
I have never smoked a cigarette. Nor have I ever had a remote tendency towards addiction to any substance. That is even one of the reasons I gave when describing why this is an effective technique for me personally. I am more at risk of becoming addicted to discussing substances on the internet than the substances themselves.
Absolutely. The habit of smoking is ingrained for life, that particular power of nicotine over memory at work. And I'm not talking about the habit of getting yourself a nicotine fix. It is a habit of physically getting a cigarette, lighting it, putting it in your mouth and sucking on it. Adding a nicotine trigger back into that would be absolutely insane.