Arshuni comments on Abuse of Productivity Systems - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (57)
Thanks for sharing, and it's good to know my examples were realistic :)
I see that you came to a lot of sensible conclusions about your motivation/energy/resources etc., but I detected some slight discrepancies with my models.
I don't know if I'm right about you not fully grasping this one, but just in case: motivation is not something you have, it is something you create (also this)
The advice to take a free day in Sally's case seems bogus according to the heuristics I'm currently running. If you stand behind your suggestion, I'd be interested in comparing our evidence.
I found the structure of your website interesting. Are those flashcards there? How well do they work for really internalizing things?
That website is just an auto-generated snapshot from a system I use on my phone.
The way I use it on my part is that it prompts me at various intervals to do one of 2 things:
evaluate my track record regarding a given trigger,
predict situations in which it might be relevant in the future and plan what I'll do then.
And yes, at least the way I use this, it is great at making me internalize things.
It is so great in fact, that I can't tell anyone about it, because they would laugh at me.
This includes you of course.
Let me just mention that most things I add to this system actually become fully, subconsciously internalized the moment I add them to the system.
Like in, before the system prompts me about it even once.
If you don't believe me, well, I wouldn't believe myself either.
The only other report of this happening to other people from LW-sphere I've seen is here: http://agentyduck.blogspot.jp/2014/02/lobs-theorem-cured-my-social-anxiety.html
The difference is, I'm doing it with hundreds of things and it predictably works instantly in around 80% of cases.
Thank you, SquirrellinHell, for sharing your mind. I'm enjoying browsing through the triiger-action plans and trying them on :)
Just wanted to thank you for sharing the seemingly silly and overly personal. More generally applicable and insightful than you might appreciate.
Umm... you're welcome?
I suspected someone might get something out of it, and also somewhere in my plans I have "sneakily spread the culture of people sharing their trigger-actions with each other".
The way it is now (without any proper explanations), I'm afraid it's easy to miss or misunderstand the important stuff...
Though as long as you can get some value out of it, with no additional effort on my part, that's great I guess?
I also have an Anki that very strongly reminds me of your entries. Also almost all insight type entries need no Anki repetition. They are just obvious. I still think that repeating them helps though. Also a nice repository to use for generating topics to use in discussions with my children.
ADDED: I notice that you seem to have no references in your entries. I use lots. I would have expected one for e.g. assuming I have lots of competitors for things I want. So this is really 'just' a trigger action planning tool.
From what you wrote, I'm guessing you use your deck for a different purpose.
For me, it's not about learning, or remembering.
It's about internalizing and offline habit training.
Exactly.
I don't need references, because I don't add things I'm unsure what to think about. I might add things I want to test without being sure how they turn out, but I'm sure that I want to test them.
Also about the "assuming I have lots of competitors for things I want", I don't have any references because it's original. I don't add biases until I have a strong, personal experience related to them. Figuring out a new bias is a strong personal experience so it counts.
Sounds like a type of learning to me. Or else I do not understand what you mean by "offline habit training".
Yes, I use Anki for learning, but not much for rote learning currently. I use Anki's adaptive repetition system to remind me of topics which I deem relevant to keep aware of like low-frequency habits, contacts to people, insights and ideas.
I do not need memorization much because being out of university I can look up most facts I need online :-) So it's only important where to find some unusual concepts and for these I record the sources with the concepts. I noticed that I often have trouble to quickly locate good refs for advanced concepts online (those not found on Wikipedia for example).
Is still suspect you don't fully get what difference I'm trying to point at. In any case, it's OK, and I'm not telling you your approach is worse or anything. But to make this clear, let me explain it like this:
Are you familiar with mental play on piano or another instrument?
Have you ever imagined yourself doing a physical motion, e.g. a jump, before you actually did it, to prepare your body to respond quickly and without hesitation in the way you wanted it to?
Now imagine applying the same method to mental habits and CTAPS.
This is what I call "offline habit training".
And sure, it is also a way of "learning", but not the first one that comes to mind when you say the word "learning".
Interesting. I know that visualization future action works (I use it e.g. in fencing to 'plan' an attack).
It is also related to cached thoughts.
If I understand right you generalize from simple motor action to all kinds of physical or cognitive behaviors that can be represented and rehearsed succinctly, e.g. habits. Nice idea. And yes, my Anki is different but also contains things that fall into this category esp. in the area of charisma, acting and noticing and reacting to people.