A meta-habit for habitual habit hunters
Credit to Cal Newport for the ideas here: http://calnewport.com/blog/2017/01/05/on-rooted-productivity/
Productivity hacks, like diets, are legion. As with diets, it's tempting to read about a new one, be inspired, and set out with good intentions to implement. But, what grounds you and holds you accountable? Often, we hold these ideas in our heads with good intentions of trying them out. Maybe we do try them briefly or find some success, but ultimately they flame out and we move on.
Perhaps the problem isn't the new strategy, it's how we approach these ideas in the first place.
- Shiny Object - we are attracted to the new shiny strategy/movement/idea/technique/concept/hack (SMITCH), but attraction alone will not lead to success
- Limited Bandwith - we learn a new SMITCH, but we keep it in our head where we have limited resources; as a result, we either have to constantly dedicate mental energy to it, which is taxing and leads to mental fatigue, or our other congnitive demands push the concept out of our minds (Cal refers to this the "open loop")
- Fragile Motivation - keeping a SMITCH in our minds only, also leads to poor accountability; it's easy to forget, misplace, deprioritize the idea and there's nothing external keeping us focused and honest withourselves
- Evaluation entanglement - for the reasons above, we often fail to implement a new SMITCH and then we generalize that experience to any other SMITCHs, which reinforces our sense of failure and undermines other approaches that may well have been effective if given the proper chance to succeed
We need a way to root our productive behaviors in something other than our minds
- Create a written plan - a single page, as succinct as possible, outlining your root commitments - the rules, habits, systems that you are committed to implementing
- Be committed - make a commitment to doing those things; if you can't commit, make it simpler until you can
- Make it visible - print it out and put it in your line of sight where you work
- Evaluate and refine - review the plan regularly and drop what's not working, refine what needs improvement, and add new ideas