You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

coyotespike comments on Group Rationality Diary, July 1-15 - Less Wrong Discussion

1 Post author: therufs 01 July 2014 03:46PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (13)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: coyotespike 05 July 2014 04:22:23PM 1 point [-]

Also, I've heard the term "anti to-do list" used to mean a list you make of what you've actually accomplished, instead of what you planned to accomplish (and it's a very useful tool). So I got that term mixed up with your term.

I like your concept of trying to break the flow of time-wasting activities; it sounds like a situation for some sort of pre-commitment device. "Okay, I've got an implicit list of not-so-good activities putting itself together here...I'd better break the chain and commit to read only two more articles..." Or something. I realize that doesn't really solve your terminological difficulty!

Comment author: sixes_and_sevens 05 July 2014 04:39:43PM 0 points [-]

I've heard those described as "to-done lists", and yes, they're very useful.

I've found pre-commitment to n more indulgences generally fails if the cost to one more indulgence is sufficiently low. The only workable solution I've found is forcible pre-commitment to zero more indulgences. In the case of a directory filled with Robot Chicken episodes, closing the window on that directory when I resolve to not watch any more has proven to be very effective.