Do I read it correctly that you want to optimize your evenings when you have nothing long-term useful to do, so you just want to grab as much immediate utilons as possible?
That is, the list is not for comparing long-term useful (such as learning a new skill, or working on a project) with short-term useful (such as reading a website, or watching a movie) activities; only for comparing different kinds of immediately pleasant activities—to make sure that if you decide to pick one of them, then you pick the best one.
That is, deciding whether to make something enjoyable right now, or work on something that is not immediately pleasant but potentially more useful, is outside of the scope of this problem.
Not really. I may be doing a mix of short-term and long-term useful things. (Tonight I had some particularly interesting work left over from the daytime.)
It’s to make sure that my conscious decision algorithm for what-to-do actually runs. I really don’t care about watching TV or checking random websites (or other common timesinks, like chatting with people online or playing games) too much—they are neither the most useful thing to do in the short-term, nor the most useful in the long-term—but they are activities that I can start doing very easily and satisfy some minimum level of interest. As a result, if I start doing them, sometimes I just forget to actually make a decision and keep doing them. By making a habit of actually considering the things I can do, I think I can pick off that low-hanging fruit.
By making a habit of actually considering the things I can do, I think I can pick off that low-hanging fruit.
So you basicly want to prevent yourself from “doing X without having consciously decided to do so”. (Doing X is not a problem per se, as long as it is a result of your conscious decision.) And the list of possible alternatives is there to increase the quality of deciding process, by considering more alternatives.
Perhaps there could be another part of this process: to consciously decide not only what to start doing, but also when to end doing it. Instead of evenings it could be better for weekends, when there is more time and more things can be done in sequence. -- Just because I consciously decide to start reading web in the morning, I don’t want to stay online the whole day.
Some activities end automatically, such as watching a movie, where I just have to remember to make a conscious decision what next. For other activites, alarm clock could be used. (If this system works, it would be nice to have some socially acceptable invisible alarm clock that I could use all day.) I can set alarm to the time when I decide in advance to stop my activity; or if I don’t know, just set it on one hour later to consciously decide whether to continue or stop. (It is possible to stop the activity sooner, unless for some reason at the beginning I decide otherwise.)
But it’s better to start only with one habit at a time.
Important: The list of possible things should be in a visible place, to be automatically seen and easily used. (Avoid micro-obstacles.)
Do I read it correctly that you want to optimize your evenings when you have nothing long-term useful to do, so you just want to grab as much immediate utilons as possible?
That is, the list is not for comparing long-term useful (such as learning a new skill, or working on a project) with short-term useful (such as reading a website, or watching a movie) activities; only for comparing different kinds of immediately pleasant activities—to make sure that if you decide to pick one of them, then you pick the best one.
That is, deciding whether to make something enjoyable right now, or work on something that is not immediately pleasant but potentially more useful, is outside of the scope of this problem.
Not really. I may be doing a mix of short-term and long-term useful things. (Tonight I had some particularly interesting work left over from the daytime.)
It’s to make sure that my conscious decision algorithm for what-to-do actually runs. I really don’t care about watching TV or checking random websites (or other common timesinks, like chatting with people online or playing games) too much—they are neither the most useful thing to do in the short-term, nor the most useful in the long-term—but they are activities that I can start doing very easily and satisfy some minimum level of interest. As a result, if I start doing them, sometimes I just forget to actually make a decision and keep doing them. By making a habit of actually considering the things I can do, I think I can pick off that low-hanging fruit.
So you basicly want to prevent yourself from “doing X without having consciously decided to do so”. (Doing X is not a problem per se, as long as it is a result of your conscious decision.) And the list of possible alternatives is there to increase the quality of deciding process, by considering more alternatives.
Perhaps there could be another part of this process: to consciously decide not only what to start doing, but also when to end doing it. Instead of evenings it could be better for weekends, when there is more time and more things can be done in sequence. -- Just because I consciously decide to start reading web in the morning, I don’t want to stay online the whole day.
Some activities end automatically, such as watching a movie, where I just have to remember to make a conscious decision what next. For other activites, alarm clock could be used. (If this system works, it would be nice to have some socially acceptable invisible alarm clock that I could use all day.) I can set alarm to the time when I decide in advance to stop my activity; or if I don’t know, just set it on one hour later to consciously decide whether to continue or stop. (It is possible to stop the activity sooner, unless for some reason at the beginning I decide otherwise.)
But it’s better to start only with one habit at a time.
Important: The list of possible things should be in a visible place, to be automatically seen and easily used. (Avoid micro-obstacles.)