## Discipline
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When your rationality wants one thing
but your emotions do something else.
---
### Elephant Rider
- metaphor describing our internal interactions
- elephant = emotional side
- rider = rational side
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The **rider** is tiny but intelligent,
holding the reigns and choosing the right path.
The **elephant** is huge but simple,
with a mind of its own.
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Most of the time, the elephant let's the rider lead the way.
But at 6 tons it won't be bossed around!
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If the rider is indecisive or tired,
the elephant will do as it likes.
If the elephant gets scared,
it will not obey the rider.
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### Ego depletion
- making decisions (big or small) is tiring
- we have limited operational capacity
- once depleted, the emotional side takes over
- can be replenished when done in advance:
- take breaks,
- do simple manual activities,
- improve your mood
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### Emotional aversion
- some activities appear daunting right away:
- demanding lots of effort
- ambiguous; many unknowns
- uncomfortable
- builds an emotional barrier,
causing an emotional aversion
- lowering the barrier makes an activity approachable
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#### Growing the capacity
It is possible to increase our operational capacity
- by building positive habits
- by lowering the emotional aversion
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The **rider** must plan around the **elephant's** needs
to make good progress on their journey
without the rider being thrown off into a ditch.
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### My thoughts
- useful mental model
- explains why my rationality doesn't always win
- enables to account for it and work with it
---
### TOOL: Habit tracker
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Define positive habits
and track them daily.
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#### Why?
- helps keeping our elephant in line:
- easier on our operational capacity: less need for making decisions; it is already decided
- less forgetting or avoiding the activity
- practice makes perfect, repetition brings efficiency
- incremental changes take time, habits help us make the time
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#### How?
| Habit | Workout | Alcohol | Coding |
| ------|---------|---------|------- |
| Target| > 10 min| < 0,5 l |> 30 min|
| 1. | 🟢 20 | 🟢 0 | 🔴 15 |
| 2. | 🔴 5 | 🔴 1 | 🔴 10 |
| 3. | 🔴 0 | 🟢 0,2 | 🔴 25 |
| 4. | 🟢 13 | 🟢 0,2 | 🟢 35 |
| 5. | 🟢 12 | 🟢 0 | 🟢 45 |
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### My Habits
1. Get up early
- before 4:45 daily
- no exceptions
2. Gym workout
- at least 10 minutes daily
- right after waking up
3. Personal Work session
- at least 1 hour daily
- right after the gym
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### My Tracking:
### Gym sessions
- A4 sheet per week, daily tracking
- table of exercises + time and effort
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#### Book of workouts
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#### One page per week
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#### 100 weeks in a row
(1.92 years)
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### My Observations
- helped me to build a and keep a habit
- kept me accountable for spending my time
- lowering barriers for entry is key
- predefined plan = less decision making
- having a few sheets in stock = less disruptions
---
### TOOL: ToDo Today
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#### What is it?
- list of prioritized, time-boxed tasks
- prepared the previous day
- important task first
- something you *want* or *need* to complete
- provides consistent daily progress
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#### Why does it work?
- avoids decision paralysis
- trimmed down daily list is manageable
- big tasks split into small ones
- the elephant doesn't get scared
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#### My ToDo tracker
Collection of markdown text files
that are easy to edit (Joplin).
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#### My ToDo tracker (1)
```markdown
# 2025-04-16
- 🚧 🚧 WIP 🚧 🚧
- pending task A
- pending task B
# TOMORROW
- some task C
# LATER
- other task D
```
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#### My ToDo tracker (1)
```markdown
# 2025-04-16
- done task A
- 🚧 🚧 WIP 🚧 🚧
- pending task B
# TOMORROW
- some task C
# LATER
- other task D
```
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#### My ToDo tracker (1)
```markdown
# 2025-04-16
- done task A
- done task B
- 🚧 🚧 WIP 🚧 🚧
# TOMORROW
- some task C
# LATER
- other task D
```
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#### My ToDo tracker (2)
```markdown
# 2025-04-16
- done task A
- 🚧 🚧 WIP 🚧 🚧
- pending task B
# TOMORROW
- some task C
# LATER
- other task D
```
During the day:
🚧 🚧 WIP 🚧 🚧 line moves,
showing what is done
and what comes next.
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#### My ToDo tracker (3)
```markdown
# 2025-04-17
- 🚧 🚧 WIP 🚧 🚧
- some task C
- other task D
# TOMORROW
# LATER
- yet another task E
```
At the end of the day:
1. TODAY entries move to an archive
2. TOMORROW transforms into TODAY
3. Job well done!
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#### My ToDo tracker feedback
- helps to focus, less jumping around
- "you are working on THIS" reminder
- proper prioritization in a wider context
- new tasks don't cut in line
- helps with making & tracking progress