talk-end-of-procrastination/slides/discipline.md

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Discipline

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When your rationality wants one thing

but your emotions do something else.


Elephant Rider

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  • 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
  • everyone has some operational capacity
  • when the capacity is depleted, we let the emotional side take over

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Replenishing the capacity

  • allows us to avoid the depletion
  • needs to be done in advance
    • take breaks
    • do simple manual activities
    • improve your mood

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Growing the capacity

  • it is possible to increase our capacity
  • by building positive habits
  • by lowering an emotional aversion

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Emotional aversion

  • some activities appear daunting right away:
    • demanding lots of effort
    • ambiguous; many unknowns
    • uncomfortable or even painful
  • this creates an emotional barrier
  • lowering the barrier makes an activity approachable

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The rider must plan around the elephant's needs

to make good progress on their journey

without being thrown into a ditch.


TOOL: Habit tracker

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Define positive habits

and track them daily.

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Why?

  • habits help keeping our elephant in line:
    • lower need for making decisions; it is already decided
    • less forgetting
    • more efficient use of time = more time for doing
  • habits can evolve, we can keep improving
  • incremental changes take time, habits help us make the time
  • tracking habits increases the retention of habits

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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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Gym sessions tracker

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One page per week

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100 weeks in a row
(1.92 years)


TOOL: ToDo Today

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What is it?

  • list of prioritized, time-boxed tasks
  • prepared the previous day

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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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Important task first
  • something you want or need to complete
  • consistent daily progress

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My ToDo tracker

Collection of markdown text files
that are easy to edit (Joplin).

# 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 (2)

# 2025-04-16
- done task A
- done task B
- 🚧 🚧 WIP 🚧 🚧

# 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)

# 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 is formed, becomes TODAY
  3. Job well done!

TOOL: Daily Heroism

[Philip Zimbardo]

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Take a small step out of your comfort zone.

Daily.

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Why?

  • grows your ability to act, step out of the crowd
  • supports fulfilling your vision and maintaining discipline

It makes the elephant jump before it realizes
the hole is too deep for comfort.

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My Heroism

Game of smalltalk

  • chat up random people
  • do it before you rationalize a reason to back out