Group rationality diary, 5/21/12

cata

This is the public group instrumental rationality diary for the week of May 21st. It's a place to record and chat about it if you have done, or are actively doing, things like:

Established a useful new habit
Obtained new evidence that made you change your mind about some belief
Decided to behave in a different way in some set of situations
Optimized some part of a common routine or cached behavior
Consciously changed your emotions or affect with respect to something
Consciously pursued new valuable information about something that could make a big difference in your life
Learned something new about your beliefs, behavior, or life that surprised you
Tried doing any of the above and failed

Or anything else interesting which you want to share, so that other people can think about it, and perhaps be inspired to take action themselves. Try to include enough details so that everyone can use each other's experiences to learn about what tends to work out, and what doesn't tend to work out.

Thanks to everyone who contributes!

Previously: 5/14/12 (and explanation)

This is the public group instrumental rationality diary for the week of May 21st. It's a place to record and chat about it if you have done, or are actively doing, things like:

Established a useful new habit
Obtained new evidence that made you change your mind about some belief
Decided to behave in a different way in some set of situations
Optimized some part of a common routine or cached behavior
Consciously changed your emotions or affect with respect to something
Consciously pursued new valuable information about something that could make a big difference in your life
Learned something new about your beliefs, behavior, or life that surprised you
Tried doing any of the above and failed

Thanks to everyone who contributes!

I moved my daily vitamins to somewhere where I cannot fail to notice them in the morning, an embarrassingly simple tweak that has increased my adherence from 50% to 100%.

I've also added vitamin B1 to my daily routine following Kevin's advice, but have no idea whether it's working (the purported benefit is increased mental clarity). A N of 1 trial seems called for.

I've arranged for some modafinil to come my way, and am planning to do a simple experiment on its effectiveness (heeding this comment).

I've been putting off using pomodoro at work, despite being reasonably convinced that it would work (and having some urgent stuff due that affects me directly). I'm not sure why, so I think a thought experiment might be called for.

I've been trying to be more open and appreciative, and several friends have remarked that I've been particularly fun lately.

I've been particularly fun lately.

It's true!