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The alternative to deadlines is consistency. Do something every day, mark it off on the calendar, if you do it for 6 to 12 weeks, it's a permanent habit, move o

The alternative to deadlines is consistency. Do something every day, mark it off on the calendar, if you do it for 6 to 12 weeks, it's a permanent habit, move on to the next habit you want to form.

kqr 3y ago
Isn't that just a recurring deadline at midnight? You still have that binary nature, except on a smaller scale. I think you're onto something, though: in order to get an effect, we need to drill down to the daily, ongoing practises. We can't do it at a zoomed out, results-level view.
- pitched 3y ago
  A habit is something you’ve done so often that you don’t need to think about it. Your brain can shut down into zombie mode and it’ll still happen. This is different from a deadline at midnight which is about ramping up stress to get your brain into a hyper-aware mode, opposite of zombie mode!
  - jaggederest 3y ago
    Absolutely. The idea is to eliminate the effort entirely - you really want to start extremely tiny, with the smallest step, and build on that.
- jaggederest 3y ago
  No, typically it's not at midnight, it's more situational - when I do X, I also do Y. For example, check the oven is empty before you turn it on, water the plants every time you refill the cat's water, do a stretch every time you walk to the fridge, unload the dishes while you make your coffee, etc.
  - lazyasciiart 3y ago
    So is it "every day" or not? If it is "every day" how do you decide that you have missed a day?
    - jaggederest 3y ago
      If I did X, but I did not successfully do Y. Every once in a while missing is not a huge deal, but if you see consistent issues with performance it's time to try something else or choose a smaller habit to start with and work your way up. It's often at a greater frequency than a day, I just think it's easier to track if at the end of the day you make one checkmark.
- PeterisP 3y ago
  No, a "recurring deadline" means that on the classic project management tradeoff of scope-time-resources(+quality?) you consider that a fixed scope MUST be delivered by a fixed deadline, and any variation means that you may (have to) spend more effort or dump quality to achieve that; but a "recurring habit" is an approach that you devote a certain systematic amount of effort+quality by the deadline but expect some variation in how much results will be achieved that.
flangola7 3y ago
I worked that worked for me. Tried to form habits for years like the neurotypical I'm not

The alternative to deadlines is consistency. Do something every day, mark it off on the calendar, if you do it for 6 to 12 weeks, it's a permanent habit, move on to the next habit you want to form.

kqr 3y ago

Isn't that just a recurring deadline at midnight? You still have that binary nature, except on a smaller scale. I think you're onto something, though: in order to get an effect, we need to drill down to the daily, ongoing practises. We can't do it at a zoomed out, results-level view.

pitched 3y ago
A habit is something you’ve done so often that you don’t need to think about it. Your brain can shut down into zombie mode and it’ll still happen. This is different from a deadline at midnight which is about ramping up stress to get your brain into a hyper-aware mode, opposite of zombie mode!
- jaggederest 3y ago
  Absolutely. The idea is to eliminate the effort entirely - you really want to start extremely tiny, with the smallest step, and build on that.
jaggederest 3y ago
No, typically it's not at midnight, it's more situational - when I do X, I also do Y. For example, check the oven is empty before you turn it on, water the plants every time you refill the cat's water, do a stretch every time you walk to the fridge, unload the dishes while you make your coffee, etc.
- lazyasciiart 3y ago
  So is it "every day" or not? If it is "every day" how do you decide that you have missed a day?
  - jaggederest 3y ago
    If I did X, but I did not successfully do Y. Every once in a while missing is not a huge deal, but if you see consistent issues with performance it's time to try something else or choose a smaller habit to start with and work your way up. It's often at a greater frequency than a day, I just think it's easier to track if at the end of the day you make one checkmark.
PeterisP 3y ago
No, a "recurring deadline" means that on the classic project management tradeoff of scope-time-resources(+quality?) you consider that a fixed scope MUST be delivered by a fixed deadline, and any variation means that you may (have to) spend more effort or dump quality to achieve that; but a "recurring habit" is an approach that you devote a certain systematic amount of effort+quality by the deadline but expect some variation in how much results will be achieved that.

flangola7 3y ago

I worked that worked for me. Tried to form habits for years like the neurotypical I'm not