WHAT WENT WRONG
IN IMPLEMENTING MY PRE-SET, SUPER-COMMITTED SCHEDULE?
SUCKED INTO THE VORTEX!
The vortex, methinks, is for all of us tending to do what is most comfortable. We lose our perspective about what really feels good in life and go into PokeyMan mode.
I would choose to do things that were a waste of my life. Yes, I use the word "choice" because I, as the one doing it, "have a choice in the matter". In a way, it lets me off the hook to even imply that I am "getting sucked in by some mysterious force".
It is true, however, that we can just let our primitive minds go into their default mode. Yes, we do have automatic chemical processes that occur based on associations in the mind, but it is not smart to let the lower brains run things - after all, I've named them Dumb and Dumber.
Almost all good decisions come from the higher brain, after mulling things over and evaluating the tradeoffs. Initial reactions, such as intuition, are not reliable sources! (They are only "data" to possibly consider and check out for actual value and/or truth.)
What I chose "naturally" was:
THE "INTEREST" MONSTER
I chose to let myself go on and on in "being interested" in all the growth and happiness ideas in my regular email, following links, reading interesting stuff. I could go on for hours, being lulled into the comfort and ease of doing the intellectual exercising of "gathering information"...and wandering off into the forest, away from life.
So...I chose to make two adjustments, implementing them in the form of "rules".
Early morning "entertainment" with email has to be limited to no more than 15 minutes. And, of course, you might have guessed it, I needed to use the timer tool to be sure it was limited to that time. So, when I sit down, I set a timer always. Timers are at all locations where I am likely to sit down and look at emails, including putting a timer outside on the table, for when I sit in the sun. (Yes, I could use the timer with a "bong" on my iPad, but somehow that doesn't seem to work as well as having a physical object to remind me. See The Timer Tool - Inserting Extra Minutes Into Your Life.)
The second is a compromise with the "monkeys" in my mind, which "think" (at not such a high level) that all this data will actually be important. In my higher brain, I know that I would better be an intense screener, but...the compromise is to "clip" articles to be sent automatically to Evernote, where they pop into the relevant notebook to be looked at later (I can also use the powerful search engine to find virtually anything). I also, when tempted to write up a "great idea" or "profound insight", now post it to either my super-tracker "outliner" in Achieve Planner, or, if there are more notes needed, I jot a quicknote in the outliner organized The Journal (DavidRM).
Although I'm addressing only the schedule flub ups here, it is important for me to remain aware of my tendency to save so many things for later and to even take piles and miles of notes, which drop into the "sinkhole" never to be found or used again (but to be piled "for later"). Also, I note that it is a huge diversion if I write something "of interest", where I'll only "spend a little while" on it - as whole mornings of much more effective writings and integration are simply blown out into the randomness of low productivity. (See Living Life In Straight Lines - Not The Zig Zaggy Life To Nowhere.)
MINDLESS COMFORT, NO ANXIETY, PLUS SOME DOPAMINE
Computer games are designed to give you little reinforcing rewards (yeah, I won that game, ain't I hot stuff, monkey brain sucking up the good chemicals), which of course give me a dose of dopamine, the great addicter. Like the monkey pressing the lever to get another dose of dopamine so addictively that he neglects eating and dies...
So, my favorite drugging device is Spider Solitaire. I choose it (or I let my monkey mind choose it) when I am tired and/or when I feel confused or anxious or "unsettled" - all when my higher brain is not functioning, but is sorely needed! Meanwhile, 12 hours later... And, of course, I don't feel good afterwards, though I've learned pretty well not to criticize myself. After sitting a long time, I, like all humans, go into a state of being full of "body sludge", low energy, and a bit of concern about having wasted my time because I didn't get to do what was of true value for me.
To some extent, the timer tool worked for a bit or a pre-set number of games, but it was easy to slip into the intoxicating trap.
It could only be handled by using the change tools where one discovers the "cues" that precede the behavior and then devising a replacement that fills the same need, but better and more healthily. Willpower, as the studies indicate, is much exaggerated as a tool of effectiveness - it disappears quickly, yet we get stuck in the game of believing that is "shouldn't" and that we are "weak" in character - those are not really true, but they are the societal myth and misbeliefs that we learn from others. (Read Willpower - Its Use And Misuse.)
The short version of the solution, which "had to" be implemented over time as all habits require, was to substitute naps, walks, drives, reading, just relaxing outside, the Pause - realizing, via my higher brain that I needed to deal more healthily with the symptoms that I was trying to relieve. (This is not the whole story, but the current version of the story is written on the site The Struggle With 'Comfort'/'Escape' Vs. Self-Control: The Spider Solitaire Story.)
THE ENERGY HOLE
Basically, I will tend to feel the afternoon slump from my circadian rhythm. If I don't take a nap and I use the "power through it" strategy, I have a tough battle. But if I use the Instant Energy From Something Good (preferably the nap followed by the energy generating), my afternoon works much better. Even going away and doing something else that is easy and natural is better than the low productivity battle.
The "ramp down" late in the evening is a circadian rhythm that must be honored, as it prepares the body to do its vital functions during sleep time. What I've got so far on that, before I write "the book" about health and energy, is at Energy In The Evening.
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COMMENTS, QUESTIONS WELCOMED
If you have any comments about what happened in your process or questions about what came up, please let me know what they are. And of course suggestions of good sources (books, sites, etc.) and of what might work better are welcomed.
