A daily checklist, percentage done; turn on something like Leechblock, but only the recording options and not the block options and measure time spent on 'procrastinating' websites; use arbtt to gather statistics to measure interventions; calculate average longevity of items on your TODO list; ...

Not seeing any suggestions from you - did you spend 5 minutes thinking about it before asking here?

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system. - John Gall

In other words, the things you record should not be an exhaustive list of everything you can think of; rather, it should build itself out of necessity.

Also - don't measure things simply because you can measure them. (for example, you're counting calories because you can count them, but it's really a waste of time when you can instead recite to yourself every morning, "I will eat healthier foods")

Yes, except that you want the algorithm to give you the opportunity to learn and implement more than one subskill.

So, for boot-strapping purposes (i.e. learning as you go), perhaps the algorithm would look like this?

Diagnosis

• A1. Read about the four "factors" of procrastination (expectancy, value, impulsiveness and delay)
• A2. Notice that you're procrastinating
• A3. Consider which factor is most relevant
• A4. Are you confident you have identified the most relevant factor?
• If YES, go to A5
• If NO, go to A1
• A5. Considering your recorded results so far (if any), have you learned a subskill which can address the relevant factor?
• If NO, goto B1
• If YES, goto C1

Learning Subskills

• B1. Read about the subskills relevant to the problem factor
• B2. Choose the subskill that appears easiest for you to learn
• B3. Make a plan to learn, implement and practice that subskill
• Goto C1

Implementing Subskills

• C1. Implement the relevant subskill
• C2. Record the results of implementing the subskill
• Goto A2 when relevant

What do you think?

I've been working on anti-akrasia software. Currently it allows a person to log their daily activities, and assess how 'productive' they have been each day.

What I envision is a program with a modular facility: people can suggest and code modules providing anti-akrasia techniques.

A user would configure the program: my goals are X and Y and the anti-akrasia techniques I am using are A, B and C. Then the user would operate the program for a few days logging their daily activities, including how much closer towards their goals this takes them.

A user could then analyse the success of different techniques, with the software doing the heavy-lifting (i.e. applying bayes to suggest how much the user should believe that a certain technique is effective in helping them achieve their goals). Based on this information, the user would reconfigure the software, varying their goals or changing which techniques they are using.

If the user was willing, anonymous data could be collected to provide wider information on what techniques work and for what kinds of goals.

Any people capable of coding would be able to submit (a) modules for anti-akrasia techniques and (b) modules for analysing the data.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated!

It strikes me that this discussion of the benefits of religiosity, separate from its truth, is reminiscent of the placebo effect.

Hi, I'm Alison - I used to be a professional tarot reader and astrologer in spite of having a (fairly average) science degree. I recovered from that over 15 years ago and feel it would be valuable for more people to understand how I came to do it and how I changed my mind. I am also a 45 year old woman, which makes me feel in a tiny minority on LW.

I've been reading large chunks of the sequences for the last year, as well as books like Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear and a bunch of rationalist blogs (and been thoroughly sucked into HPMOR).

Topics I'm particularly interested in include day to day rationality, tackling global warming, rationality from the perspective of people with mental health issues and tackling irrationality while maintaining polite and less arrogant discourse.

Hi, I'm Richard. I'm a lawyer, practising in Norwich, England. I've been 'lurking' on lesswrong, and working my way through the sequences, for some time.

I have an interest in technology, and particularly open source projects. For example, I'm writing this right now in Emacs.

I hope I will be able to contribute positively to this community, which has certainly already helped me a great deal.