Comment on Group Rationality Diary, November 16-30

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:14:14 GMT

What happened those times you ignored your schedule? There can be very different breakpoints in a system like this.

Do you break away to do other things that need to be done but didn't get to schedule properly?

Are you neglecting to check the schedule?

Is acknowledging the schedule turning into an ugh field?

Are finding the scheduled item is not something immediately actionable?

Are the scheduled items taking longer/shorter than expected?

Are you constantly finding excuses (even good ones) not to do the scheduled thing?

Some subset of the above? Without knowing specifics, I can tell you: Schedules tend towards sucking up will-power, as philh was getting at, like a badly designed phone application drains power. Scheduled items require over and over again that you do this at this time, whether you want to or not, whether it makes sense to do it then or not. You may find formulating itty bitty trigger-action habits more useful than a schedule: make them just big enough to put you in a perfect position to work on the task, and small enough that that you can do just that and stop if it's not a good time. (BJ Fogg's tiny habits)[http://tinyhabits.com/join/] is BRILLIANT at setting these up.

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