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SquirrelInHell comments on Abuse of Productivity Systems - Less Wrong Discussion
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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.
Sounds reasonable. But I expect that also creating motivation (e.g. by visualization) takes some time, so it is still possible to run out of the resources. But for people who don't do that at all, it is worth exploring.
Yes, but I would rather see this as a sign that you hit a wall with your motivation-creating skill, than a limitation on how much motivation you can have or how quickly you can achieve it. There seems to be plenty of evidence for people having success spirals that are very quick and powerful.
Also, the correct meta-strategy when you have little motivation seems to be to direct as much of it as you can towards exploring ways to get more motivation. I expect most people are not strategic about their motivation, so I point it out whenever I can.
I think I get it now. Seems like you are saying "motivation-creation tools and time-management tools are two different kinds of tools made for solving two different kinds of problems; if you try to use time-management tools for handling lack of motivation, they will break". Correct?
If I haven't been saying that, it's only because it never crossed my mind I need to say it. Both my examples from the article are designed around this idea :)
Productivity/time-management tools (for me, at least) serve a function I'd roughly describe as "funneling motivation into high quality work".
So obviously there's a connection (motivation is necessary as "fuel" for productivity, and having productivity and successes makes it easier to get motivation), but those are two different things.
Edit: thank you phrasing it in this way - it was also useful for me to make this point clear.
I would love to know more about how to create motivation!
Now this is a big topic, and I don't see myself as any kind of expert at it... but my suggestion at the beginning is to recognize that at the point you want to create "motivation", it helps to stop using the umbrella term "motivation", and replace it with things like:
if left unchecked, what is my default action
if I ask myself what option I prefer, what answer seems "right"
if I imagine an outcome, how much do I "want" it
if I imagine an outcome, what emotions are associated with it
if I imagine looking back at my decision, what feelings are associated with it
are there any feelings associated with the action of imagining itself
what are my predictions about all of the above
what historical data do I have about all of the above
"Motivation" is such a broad topic I wouldn't know what to write even if I knew everything about it.
Just to add to your list:
After forming a plan, ask yourself, "Will I actually do this?" and adjust your plans based on what your gut says.
Is your plan friendly to both your elephant and your rider (i.e. your unconscious and conscious selves)? If unfriendly to your elephant, can you craft a narrative surrounding the plan that appeals to you emotionally?
On what level are you experiencing the intention or blockage?
The problem with all of these suggestions and all thinking along these lines in general is that they require you to already be some sort of advanced Bene Gesserit to actually habitually employ them in real time.
Like, I know these are good ideas, but what I actually do in real life is just follow my Spirit of Wandering Attention and let it choose whatever project seems most entertaining in the moment.