4 ms·

I do this, but usually fall back into my old habits. But you're right. Habits are God. I'd rather not say what the spreadsheet is for, but it's not my end game

by oz 16y ago

I do this, but usually fall back into my old habits. But you're right. Habits are God. I'd rather not say what the spreadsheet is for, but it's not my end game. The proceeds of that will go to my other startups; for example my greeting card company (I hand-make greeting cards with paper and fabric, sold quite a few for Mother's Day and definitely intend to make a huge company of it). Stay tuned.

jtheory 16y ago
About falling back into old habits -- you have to give those old habits some respect. The very act of sinking down in the couch and grabbing the remote -- and letting yourself be dragged into a 2 hour waste of time -- is something with roots that probably run much deeper than you realize. You can't usually break old habits by just, you know, deciding for real this time that you aren't going to let it happen anymore. Sure, that works for one decision (10:05am) and maybe even a bunch of them (10:09am, 10:43am, 10:44am, 11:05am...) but how long can you keep winning those battles through force of will alone? Your will gets tired. You have to take physical steps to make it impossible. If you give away your TV, that's a real-world step that would force you out of that particular addiction (and believe me, TV is addicting... there are an awful lot of very smart people who've worked for decades making it that way). I haven't had a TV since 2002 or so, and I've never intend to get another. So that's one down. I still find plenty of ways to waste time even when my work is my own, and interesting to me -- I'm doing it right now! -- but once you've successfully knocked down your most serious distractions it gets a little easier to see how it all works. Personally, I cut out TV and any and all gaming a long time ago (because they just short-circuit my brain, it seems... I get sucked in even if I'm not enjoying myself at all), and most of my time-wasters that are left aren't so impossible to resist -- so I can use some of the methods other posters are talking about. Making lists (and explicitly reprioritizing) is great -- sometimes when you hit a roadblock that would normally have you popping open a "timewasting" browser window, or wandering off to the kitchen, if instead you grab the paper & pen and go outside you can either scribble your way through the problem step by step, OR realize that you don't have to solve it at all (or, not yet). When you need a break, walks are also great -- instead of something like TV (which fills your head with stuff that completely blocks most useful thought) you can just follow your feet for a bit, enjoy the weather (there are pleasant aspects to most weather) and clear your head and your thinking. Also allow yourself time to recharge (again, TV is bad for this because it fills up your head with a flood of images and messages designed to stick there...) but hanging out with friends & loved ones is great, getting outside is great, going for a run is great. One final thought -- if you actually make some changes (like blocking web access part of the day, tossing the TV, etc.) it takes a while before you actual benefit from the changes -- you'll keep popping from your chair and heading to the TV for a good while, for example, or find yourself pacing around just thinking furiously about whatever time-wasting thing you'd normally have been doing at that moment.

by oz 16y ago

jtheory 16y ago

About falling back into old habits -- you have to give those old habits some respect. The very act of sinking down in the couch and grabbing the remote -- and letting yourself be dragged into a 2 hour waste of time -- is something with roots that probably run much deeper than you realize. You can't usually break old habits by just, you know, deciding for real this time that you aren't going to let it happen anymore. Sure, that works for one decision (10:05am) and maybe even a bunch of them (10:09am, 10:43am, 10:44am, 11:05am...) but how long can you keep winning those battles through force of will alone? Your will gets tired. You have to take physical steps to make it impossible. If you give away your TV, that's a real-world step that would force you out of that particular addiction (and believe me, TV is addicting... there are an awful lot of very smart people who've worked for decades making it that way). I haven't had a TV since 2002 or so, and I've never intend to get another. So that's one down. I still find plenty of ways to waste time even when my work is my own, and interesting to me -- I'm doing it right now! -- but once you've successfully knocked down your most serious distractions it gets a little easier to see how it all works. Personally, I cut out TV and any and all gaming a long time ago (because they just short-circuit my brain, it seems... I get sucked in even if I'm not enjoying myself at all), and most of my time-wasters that are left aren't so impossible to resist -- so I can use some of the methods other posters are talking about. Making lists (and explicitly reprioritizing) is great -- sometimes when you hit a roadblock that would normally have you popping open a "timewasting" browser window, or wandering off to the kitchen, if instead you grab the paper & pen and go outside you can either scribble your way through the problem step by step, OR realize that you don't have to solve it at all (or, not yet). When you need a break, walks are also great -- instead of something like TV (which fills your head with stuff that completely blocks most useful thought) you can just follow your feet for a bit, enjoy the weather (there are pleasant aspects to most weather) and clear your head and your thinking. Also allow yourself time to recharge (again, TV is bad for this because it fills up your head with a flood of images and messages designed to stick there...) but hanging out with friends & loved ones is great, getting outside is great, going for a run is great. One final thought -- if you actually make some changes (like blocking web access part of the day, tossing the TV, etc.) it takes a while before you actual benefit from the changes -- you'll keep popping from your chair and heading to the TV for a good while, for example, or find yourself pacing around just thinking furiously about whatever time-wasting thing you'd normally have been doing at that moment.