26 ms·

I thought I came up with this independently--glad to hear it's not just me. I quit smoking by pretending there were three of me: past, present, and future. Ini

I thought I came up with this independently--glad to hear it's not just me. I quit smoking by pretending there were three of me: past, present, and future. Initially, it was up to present me to conspire with past me to trick future me into doing what we wanted. This took the form of letting my social group see me tearing a cigarette into little pieces every time I usually would smoke one. Destroyed about two cartons this way. I knew they'd make fun of future me for being so wasteful if I ever started smoking again. Once we got a bit of traction when it comes to reigning in that jerk (future me) we began to realize that diplomacy was more effective than trickery. The compromise now is exactly one cigarette per year. Five years in and I think all parties are happy with the agreement. There's a sort of trans-temporal respect we're building. This may sound like the ravings of a madman, but people occasionally comment on how balanced and in control I seem to be. I think it's a better way.

dade_ 8y ago
Most people are constantly screwing over their future self. I found this to be a useful thought process as well. Also, I quit smoking.
dhimes 8y ago
I think this is a really cool mind-hack. I'm glad to see it worked.
Reedx 8y ago
Sounds like you created a system instead of a goal. Check this out: https://www.inc.com/john-boitnott/dilbert-s-scott-adams-on-why-it-s-better-to-have-a-system-than-a-goal.html https://www.inc.com/john-boitnott/dilbert-s-scott-adams-on-w...
patatino 8y ago
I read that 90% of all smokers stop smoking sometimes in their life and I just could not accept being in the 10% who cannot. 5 years too :) congrats
aantix 8y ago
Similarly, you might enjoy learning about IFS, Internal Family Systems therapy. It's a psychotherapy approach where you interact with yourself as a series of independent personalities, each with their own motives. The guided meditation might make the concepts a little more obvious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Px9qaxAkY&t=29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Px9qaxAkY&t=29
vokep 8y ago
This is definitely not ravings of a madman, more like an extremely useful way to think of your self. your self is only this moment, nothing more. Past moments are different people who happen to share most of your memory, basically you have one way direct brain-to-brain communication with your past/future self. In this way, doing things that are enjoyable in the moment but have negative consequences in the future, is not much different from doing something enjoyable that has negative consequences to another person in the present. That is to say, both are morally wrong. Ironically, someone with strong moral sense is far more likely to do the first, to hurt the person they can empathize with the most! (because they will literally become that person lol) Maybe some parallel with "hurting the ones you love most", I dunno though I haven't thought that through. Your past self hopefully is like your best possible friend who does favors and generally tries to make your life easier. The future self is a stranger you know you will meet soon, and hopefully you can make a good impression. Present self gets to choose whether to do the right thing or not.

dade_ 8y ago

Most people are constantly screwing over their future self. I found this to be a useful thought process as well. Also, I quit smoking.

dhimes 8y ago

I think this is a really cool mind-hack. I'm glad to see it worked.

Reedx 8y ago

Sounds like you created a system instead of a goal. Check this out: https://www.inc.com/john-boitnott/dilbert-s-scott-adams-on-why-it-s-better-to-have-a-system-than-a-goal.html https://www.inc.com/john-boitnott/dilbert-s-scott-adams-on-w...

patatino 8y ago

I read that 90% of all smokers stop smoking sometimes in their life and I just could not accept being in the 10% who cannot. 5 years too :) congrats

aantix 8y ago

Similarly, you might enjoy learning about IFS, Internal Family Systems therapy. It's a psychotherapy approach where you interact with yourself as a series of independent personalities, each with their own motives. The guided meditation might make the concepts a little more obvious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Px9qaxAkY&t=29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Px9qaxAkY&t=29

vokep 8y ago

This is definitely not ravings of a madman, more like an extremely useful way to think of your self. your self is only this moment, nothing more. Past moments are different people who happen to share most of your memory, basically you have one way direct brain-to-brain communication with your past/future self. In this way, doing things that are enjoyable in the moment but have negative consequences in the future, is not much different from doing something enjoyable that has negative consequences to another person in the present. That is to say, both are morally wrong. Ironically, someone with strong moral sense is far more likely to do the first, to hurt the person they can empathize with the most! (because they will literally become that person lol) Maybe some parallel with "hurting the ones you love most", I dunno though I haven't thought that through. Your past self hopefully is like your best possible friend who does favors and generally tries to make your life easier. The future self is a stranger you know you will meet soon, and hopefully you can make a good impression. Present self gets to choose whether to do the right thing or not.