aelephant comments on Checklist of Rationality Habits - Less Wrong

117 Post author: AnnaSalamon 07 November 2012 09:19PM

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Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 07 November 2012 01:26:39PM 28 points [-]

Very nice list! I feel like this one in particular is one of the most important ones:

I try not to treat myself as if I have magic free will; I try to set up influences (habits, situations, etc.) on the way I behave, not just rely on my will to make it so. (Example from Alicorn: I avoid learning politicians’ positions on gun control, because I have strong emotional reactions to the subject which I don’t endorse.) (Recent example from Anna: I bribed Carl to get me to write in my journal every night.)

To give my own example: I try to be vegetarian, but occasionally the temptation of meat gets the better of me. At some point I realized that whenever I walked past a certain hamburger place - which was something that I typically did on each working day - there was a high risk of me succumbing. Obvious solution: modify my daily routine to take a slightly longer route which avoided any hamburger places. Modifying your environment so that you can completely avoid the need to use willpower is ridiculously useful.

Comment author: aelephant 09 November 2012 11:31:53PM *  1 point [-]

Set Future You up for success, rather than failure.

Edit: Thought of a personal example. I know that if I scratch my head, my head will become more itchy. It is a vicious cycle. If I cut my nails short, it seems to help. In the moment, I might not want to cut my nails because there is no immediate value. But it is, in a sense, "modifying my environment" so that in the future I'll be less likely to fall into the itchy-head trap.