May 2012
31 posts
3 tags
The state of behavior change, and a new free app!
We’ve learned a lot about behavior change in the last 2 years. Here’s a bit of my current thinking on it all, and a new free app that you can print out and put in your wallet.
1) Which behavior should I change?
One that helps you learn the habit of changing habits (learn once, use forever). One that’s linked directly to something you desperately crave more of in your life...
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Tiny interview: April
Tiny interview with April about her 10+ year habit of taking a multi-vitamin when she wakes up.
What’s the habit or routine that you’ve done daily for over a year? When did it start?
I’ve been taking a multi-vitamin every morning for about 10 years.
What do you think makes this habit stick better than other habits you might have tried to start?
I do it every morning,...
Transparency in the evolution of technology
pieratt:
The Next Web recently asked “Is the internet is making us more honest?”.
The article is interesting, but I wonder if there is more at play here.
If you’ve ever gotten me liquored up, you may have heard me mention my belief that the internet is forming the foundation of what will eventually become the first artificial intelligence. Which is to say, I believe that someday, our...
“Information overload is not the problem; you want all the information. It’s...”
– Clay Shirky | Yammer, NationalField, And The Future Of How We Collaborate At Work (via courtenaybird)
“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. Scientists made a...”
– Polaroid inventor Edwin Land on embracing failure, among other insights on what it takes to innovate.
Also see Land on the 5,000 steps to success. (via explore-blog)
“In the book “Training the Emotional Brain” I describe 6 emotional...”
– Training the Emotional Brain : An Interview with Richard J. Davidson : Sam Harris
Interesting interview about what looks like an interesting book.
joinsessions:
While many of us wonder just how much exercise we really need in order to gain health and fitness, a group of scientists in Canada are turning that issue on its head and asking, how little exercise do we need?
Read more here.
April 2012
32 posts
“Tracking nearly anything you do is alarming and humbling. The aggregates of our...”
– Tom MacWright (Quantified Self)
Take this on repeat with headphones, a coffee, and...
How to Build an Owl
jackcheng:
by Kathleen Lynch
Decide you must.
Develop deep respect for feather, bone, claw.
Place your trembling thumb where the heart will be: for one hundred hours watch so you will know where to put the first feather.
Stay awake forever. When the bird takes shape gently pry open its beak and whisper into it: mouse.
Let it go.
The Habit Onion →
habitlabs:
Layer 1: the habit you want to change
Layer 2: the habit of being consistent during different emotional states and environments
Layer 3: the habit of getting back up when you fall off the wagon
Almost all habit change philosophies focus entirely on the 1st layer of the habit onion, and assume that the other layers are healthy and thriving (and if they aren’t, just get them...
What I believe V1
The results of thinking about what I believe for a day (mentioned in this post). It’s incomplete, and subject to change whenever my brain decides to flip-flop on me.
On Morality
Gay marriage should be legal everywhere
Marijuana should be legal
Being good is in our nature (being evil requires misinformation or partial information)
Abortion should be legal
Assisted suicide should be...
My Sunday experiment: what do I believe?
I feel like stepping back a little from all of the responding and spending a little time thinking about what I believe these days. From religion to politics to technology to predictions about the future… there’s got to be something there below all of the opinions, reactions, and instincts, right?
My exercise for the day: make a list of things (big, small, obvious and crazy) that I...
“Don’t ignore your dreams; don’t work too much; say what you think; cultivate...”
– From the top of Paul Graham’s ToDo List. (via arainert)
“In article after article, one theme emerges from the media coverage of...”
– Why It’s OK to Let Apps Make You a Better Person - Evan Selinger - Technology - The Atlantic
A pretty great article about how we’re using technology to supplement weaknesses in our own willpower.
meta-decisions
me: [option A] is about hedging bets, [option B] is about going all in
me: if you use hedging bets logic, you'll end up with the hedging bets answer
me: if you use all-in logic, you'll get the all-in answer
me: the rationale you use to make the decision will determine the outcome
“Carving out a space for yourself online, somewhere where you can express...”
– Andy Baio (via austinkleon)
“This idea of labour being hidden in things, and the value of things arising from...”
– - Matt Webb quoting John Lancaster summarizing Marx.
This quote sorta just blew my mind. The word congealed, mostly.
Imagine labor as a substance that is collected in the things you spend time doing.
Imagine Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, etc not as websites or services or businesses, but as...