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sdr comments on How to manipulate future self into being productive? - Less Wrong
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You're framing the problem wrong -within these conditions, there are no good solution. There are 3 shortcuts out:
First, realize, that you're inherently time-locked: the current self is the only one on which you have some amount of control (you might put yourself in a situation, where your only way out is to "work hard" -eg. make a bet with a friend to pass that exam, etc- but I found these to be less effective, than the other two).
Second, reframe the problem. Some sample questions you might ask: * In what ways might I get the most gratification out of this work? * In what ways might I get the most XP out of this experience? * In what ways might I learn the most of myself during this excercise? * In what ways might I use this as a way to self-improve? You get the idea -reframing is key.
Third, "working" for most classes of work, is fundamentally muscles: as you do more, and more, try different ways out, your leverage, and ability to "get stuff done" will improve. So: start with baby steps, then use the positive feedback, and gained experience to improve, and apply it to other aspects of the task.
Hope this helps.
Actually, I have managed to cause short-term changes in productivity to my future self but they tend to slowly wear off. This makes me optimistic that there are self-sustaining solutions.
What were these changes? What was the experience of them wearing off like?
I stopped procrastinating as much and kept more organized. I also spent more overall time on productive activities.
The wearing off was just a slow gradient of falling back into my usual level of productivity. I didn't notice it immediately as it was happening, only upon reflection.
I guess I worded the question poorly. I mean, what did you change that made you more productive? I'm trying to see if there's any obvious and fixable reason that it didn't last. This can require precision in describing your mental state to get right.
I will attempt to do so but I have no way of knowing whether this is accurate or it is just the best rationalization my brain came up with. In addition, I know very little of psychology and my attempt at introspection is probably inadequate to give much useful information.
If I introspect while making a decision I can notice a succession of feelings in response to each other. I tried reflecting upon the experience of making a poor decision and explicitly noticing the affective factors that influenced my decision. I constructed a new feeling which I thought would promote productivity. I attempted to suppress thoughts supporting the poor decision while promoting my constructed feeling whenever I was making a decision related to productivity.