This was a super interesting exercise! I chose doing well in the next class in my master’s degree as the goal. I have generally done well so far, but I’m working full-time while going to school (because work is paying for it), so every semester is a bit of a struggle. What was unexpected about murphyjitsuing this goal was the way in which there were basically two categories of possible problems I found. The first were the easy, well-contained problems (like “I generally submit assignments at the last minute, making it easy for technical difficulties to mess things up”). That’s the kind of problem that can be solved via yoda timers, reminders etc. The second kind is the big life problems, like “I could lose motivation,” or “I could have a serious health problem.” These are much harder to defeat through planning, and can only be hit more indirectly.
I found the second category of problems to be disheartening in a way, since there’s not an easy way to fight them off. But they’re also at least a little bit motivating, because it helps me see the connection between everything else in the bug list and this specific goal. Getting more regular sleep, going for more walks, and doing a better job of keeping up with friends will all help in little ways in guarding against these bigger risks.
This was a super interesting exercise! I chose doing well in the next class in my master’s degree as the goal. I have generally done well so far, but I’m working full-time while going to school (because work is paying for it), so every semester is a bit of a struggle. What was unexpected about murphyjitsuing this goal was the way in which there were basically two categories of possible problems I found. The first were the easy, well-contained problems (like “I generally submit assignments at the last minute, making it easy for technical difficulties to mess things up”). That’s the kind of problem that can be solved via yoda timers, reminders etc. The second kind is the big life problems, like “I could lose motivation,” or “I could have a serious health problem.” These are much harder to defeat through planning, and can only be hit more indirectly.
I found the second category of problems to be disheartening in a way, since there’s not an easy way to fight them off. But they’re also at least a little bit motivating, because it helps me see the connection between everything else in the bug list and this specific goal. Getting more regular sleep, going for more walks, and doing a better job of keeping up with friends will all help in little ways in guarding against these bigger risks.