The PoWeR technique: a strategic approach to self-discipline • Hacker News Board

Re: The PoWeR technique: a strategic approach to self-discipline

#61

Post by fdkz » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 10:35 PM UTC

BizarroLand wrote: post #60

Thoeu388 wrote: post #19

It is question of motivation. Motivation uses logical forebrain, best way is to take thinking out of equation. - marshmallow test is invalid, if kids do not trust adult. It would not work on kids from rough neighbourhood, who would get second marshmallow stollen. Single marshmallow is logical choice in this case. Apply that on savings and inflation... - if phone alarm does not wake you up, use lamp with timer. 10000…

I tried the lamp thing. Attached it to a smart switch and programmed it to turn on at 7:30am every weekday. I now get my best sleep between 7:30 and whatever time it is when I jump out of bed screaming because I've overslept. The only thing that reliably wakes me up is the "Your New Morning Alarm" song by Marc Ribellet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enYdAxVcNZA

There are still some mornings where one has to move to stage 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z-9RCuV0Lg

Re: The PoWeR technique: a strategic approach to self-discipline

#62

Post by Aerbil313 » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 12:14 PM UTC

Thoeu388 wrote: post #51

Aerbil313 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The case of smartphones is unique. There is a war waged by corporations with hundreds of thousands of employees to take the most of your attention out from you (for sweet ad money), with attention engineers working on new designs and innovations all the time. I don't think that is a battle %95 of people can win. Just look around to people. I avoid fighting the battle by making heavy use of screen time features to ban…

> take the most of your attention... with attention engineers working Typical victimhood conspiracy theory. > I avoid fighting the battle by making heavy use of screen time features to ban So you avoid that by spending more time on your phone. And someone has parental control over your phone...?!

As said below, it’s a job not a conspiracy theory. Heavy use means I use the features extensively. This results in me effectively using my phone only for necessary things, no games, no social media. I don’t understand why you thought I’d spending more time when I use these.

No one has parental control over my phone except me. I have a system which can enter the parental control password (acting as a keyboard over bluetooth) when certain conditions are met, such as when I enter a certain geographical area. The difficulty of having to walk half an hour to unlock the password prevents me from impulsively unlocking parental controls to doomscroll. The system is still under consctruction though.

Working smarter to avoid “using willpower” is a thing since ancient Greeks: https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Odysseus-and-the-S... I pretty much don’t believe in the whole willpower thing (being like a muscle) though.

Re: The PoWeR technique: a strategic approach to self-discipline

#63

Post by nonrepeating » Thu, Jul 20, 2023, 10:13 PM UTC

dave333 wrote: post #59

Easier just to take a modafinil pill - seems that when I do that I get everything I need to do done that day.

Pardon me for asking what sounds like an aggressive or leading question, I assure you it’s not: if you have to take a pill to get your work done, could it be that you’re doing the wrong work? I always feel like if I have to take drugs to accomplish something non-medical, maybe I wasn’t meant to accomplish that thing.