The idea for this came to me when reading nyan_sandwich's "An akrasia case study." I outlined the idea itself in my comment in that thread.
So here's the plan:
- In a comment reply to this, describe a specific instance of akrasia in your own life. Place an emphasis on the specificity. Focus on a specific task, either positive (i.e., that you judge to be good to do but self-sabotage from doing, like writing a paper) or negative (i.e., that you know you shouldn't do but do anyway, like buying more Frosted Flakes for breakfast and continuing to eat them). The more specific, the better.
- You can share multiple instances, but please create new comments for each.
- If you tried an anti-akrasia technique in this specific context, explain what you did and what effect it had. If you have some way in which you measured its effects objectively, please share that. If not, though, that's okay; we can still learn something from what various attempts to tackle different manifestations of akrasia feel like from the inside. The goal here is not to propose solutions; instead, it's to see what different things that feel like solutions seem to do to different kinds of akrasia. So even failed attempts are useful.
- If you tried multiple approaches or if your approach requires some explanation, you might consider describing it and its effects in a reply to your description of the instance of akrasia you applied it to.
Let me emphasize one more time that we are not looking for solutions in this thread. Please don't give each other suggestions! If you think you're on to something hot in terms of the "kicking" aspect of the Art, please show us with a description of how the technique worked for you on a specific instance - but share the instance first. The goal here is not to demonstrate that you have a clever anti-akrasia technique. The goal instead is to see what different instances of akrasia and attempts to tackle it actually look like.
If at all possible, please share both successes and failures. This is especially helpful if we can see successes and failures of the same technique. This helps to balance out positive bias and gives us a better idea of the parameters within which different techniques work. Be especially wary if you have a favorite anti-akrasia technique because of the subconscious desire to attempt to change reality by pretending your favorite technique is actually perfect. If you do have a favorite technique, please actively seek out its true weak points.
Let's crack this thing!
APPARENT SOLUTION: Willpower weightlifting
I'll explain my thinking, but with the understanding that the thinking generated a solution for reasons that might have nothing to do with the thinking that went into the solution-generation.
It occurred to me that since I am godshatter, I should expect that I have many, many different utility functions. I'm also aware of the apparent fact from embodied cognition that physical enactment is a kind of reinforcement. Since I think it makes sense to think of akrasia as what happens when one utility function generates a behavior that another utility function judges as undesirable, it should be possible to eliminate akrasia by maximizing actions that support specific utility functions while minimizing actions reinforcing opposing utility functions.
The main mechanism for being able to do this, as I understand it, is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In short, it's responsible for impulse control. There are three ways to train it that we currently know of, namely (1) mindfulness training, (2) doing novel and challenging things, and (3) encountering and resisting temptation. It occurred to me that I could use #3 in order to apply hormetism to honing willpower.
So here's what I've been doing since November 21st:
This has had the effect of decreasing impulsiveness in general for me. While training, though, I find that I have to watch for rationalization rather than for getting overwhelmed by the impulse. Rationalization seems to be what "getting overwhelmed by the impulse" feels like, at least for me.
I should mention, by the way, that I haven't worked out a good way to avoid training the mind to be really good at sending the "I'm overwhelmed with exhaustion and have had enough training" signal prematurely. I haven't noticed this as a big problem, but of course I wouldn't if it were a problem, would I?
The measurable effect is that I now tend to check email twice a day and the rest of my stuff just once a day. I've also started to use rationalization as a signal of a wonderful opportunity for training rather than as something to which I'm overly inclined to trust. My brain keeps getting better at offering more impressive-sounding rationalizations, which is actually pretty useful; it keeps the intensity of training up.
If nothing else, I seem to be able to notice when I'm erring in this particular respect based on a gut-feeling that I guess I would call "guilt" if I had to tag it with something. It's very subtle, but I've learned to notice it because it appears along with a sort of inner "sigh" of relief when I find myself following through on an impulse I decided earlier I wouldn't follow through on. (It's sometimes surprising what my subconscious mind considers to be "starting to follow the impulse." I thought that opening a new tab, putting in the email address for one of my "things to check," and then putting my finger on the "Enter" key but choosing not to follow through would make the training more intense, but it actually feels like following through on the impulse even if I stop there.)