I've begun a concentrated effort to train in practical application for all the knowledge I gained from reading rationality!
It's a fairly simplistic system; I review the content I want to distill, and then organize/compact it into related modules. Since I've a good memory for reading, simplifying the techniques to sub-listing of a few words does not shed what it expands to internally. I then review the content regularly and forecast what it's application might look like, and think back on when I missed out on a chance to use it. Associative actions help me notice these in a meaningful way. (snapping fingers).
A given week's content will be reviewed at length during it's time, and previous week's content will be reviewed in a much more compact form so I don't lose the habits formed.
I'm starting the system off with Lesswrong's anti-akrasia content and Part A of EY's book, along with some other posts I think had useful concepts.
Do I count as a Level 1 Rationalist now?
I am not qualified to judge (hint: no one is but you); but I can ask the question as to whether reviews of reading is practical application? I have noticed a failure mode of myself to gather a lot of knowledge and not actually apply it.
What would be extra-awesome is if you notice yourself finding practical places to use rationality and then coming back and sharing the ones you find effective in your life with us.
This is the public group rationality diary for July 12th - August 1st, 2015. 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.
Archive of previous rationality diaries
Note to future posters: no one is in charge of posting these threads. If it's time for a new thread, and you want a new thread, just create it. It should run for about two weeks, finish on a Saturday, and have the 'group_rationality_diary' tag.