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Daily, snackable writings to spur changes in thinking.
Building a blueprint for a better brain by tinkering with the code.
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The SECOND illustrated book from Tinkered Thinking is now available!
SPIN CHESS
A Chess app from Tinkered Thinking featuring a variant of chess that bridges all skill levels!
REPAUSE
A meditation app is forthcoming. Stay Tuned.
DOUBLE TIME
November 1st, 2019
Time for a little behind-the-scenes house keeping.
Starting today, Tinkered Thinking is going to embark on another 1-month experiment to create future posts. Two a day, for a month, which will create a month’s worth of episodes in advance.
The purpose of this is more practical than experimental. Technical difficulties with recording equipment have put Tinkered Thinking behind schedule several times, and with no episodes ready in advance, these sorts of problems are very visible.
Not so with some sort of advance.
The experimental part of this is to once again invoke the architecture for installing a new habit. Last time this was attempted, a series of special rewards were planned in accordance with the habit-forming thresholds.
If you haven’t encountered this sort of thing before, it’s well worth the time to repeat it.
For any new habit that we’d like to adopt, the first month is the most difficult. Within that month there are thresholds where things seem to get noticeably easier. These thresholds are 3 days, 7 days, 21 days, 28 days and 30 days. James Clear and Charles Duhigg have written fantastic books about the structure and formation of habits and both authors are highly recommended.
It follows that discipline is only really required to create a habit.
Once the habit has taken root, the behavior is automatic and the arduous experience of willing one’s self to act is no longer necessary.
Discipline is only required for short bursts, when we thirst for a system upgrade.
This is one of the reasons why rewards, or treats planned with each habit threshold during that first month are so effective. We incentivize ourselves towards each one, and in so doing we chunk the month into smaller, more digestible portions that we actually can will ourselves through.
This technique, along with many others that both James Clear and Charles Duhigg examine, are very effective.
It’ll be curious to see how this plays out with the production of advanced episodes. Will two episodes become the norm of production for Tinkered Thinking?
Maybe, maybe not.
We’ll see.
