Type 4 problems have a wrinkle I’ve found interesting/useful once I identified it. Successfully executing on the strategy mentioned for Type 4 requires what I call self-trust. That is, the system breaks down if you form these agreements with yourself and then have a pattern of breaking them. This can happen regardless of the content of the conversation between System 1 and 2 you have at the time. It is not automatic to ask yourself a question like “what is my track record with this sort of agreement” and much more common to just model your future self as being more virtuous than your present self.
Fortunately, I think this problem is amenable to a general counter-strategy that had positive spillover effects elsewhere in my life. Building self-trust can be done with offline training.
For those not familiar with the technique:
Let’s say you want to stop pressing the snooze button on your alarm clock, but like clockwork every morning you do. Instead of trying to train in the actual scenario you need the skill in you try training in an artificial situation. You lie down, set your alarm and practice getting up as soon as it goes off. You do this multiple times per training session until you have built a mental circuit for “getting up when alarm goes off.” If all goes well you then find online execution easier.
So to circle back to building self-trust. You practice lots of pre-commitments in low stakes situations and make sure to reward yourself a lot (could just be internal rewards) when you succeed and don’t punish yourself when you fail. You are building the mental circuits associated with “I do what I say I will do.” After sufficient practice many things start becoming easier. The biggest spillover effect for me was that my internal selves started getting along much better when I could tell a sub-agent that I would attend to their needs later and have them actually believe it and calm down about the current situation. Eventually sub-agents stopped being so “grabby” about my attention.
BTW can we get Anna a time turner so she can post more? This is an excellent post.
I find that actually scheduling my task on a calendar makes it a lot easier to trust myself. If it’s on the calendar, I’m going to see it again, which means that my various sub modules can shout at me if I don’t address it.
I’ll have to try the offline training though—hadn’t heard of doing that before.
Agree. An exo-brain you can trust is stress reducing. It was non-obvious how much stress was being caused by trying to repeatedly remember all the things.
Type 4 problems have a wrinkle I’ve found interesting/useful once I identified it. Successfully executing on the strategy mentioned for Type 4 requires what I call self-trust. That is, the system breaks down if you form these agreements with yourself and then have a pattern of breaking them. This can happen regardless of the content of the conversation between System 1 and 2 you have at the time. It is not automatic to ask yourself a question like “what is my track record with this sort of agreement” and much more common to just model your future self as being more virtuous than your present self. Fortunately, I think this problem is amenable to a general counter-strategy that had positive spillover effects elsewhere in my life. Building self-trust can be done with offline training.
For those not familiar with the technique: Let’s say you want to stop pressing the snooze button on your alarm clock, but like clockwork every morning you do. Instead of trying to train in the actual scenario you need the skill in you try training in an artificial situation. You lie down, set your alarm and practice getting up as soon as it goes off. You do this multiple times per training session until you have built a mental circuit for “getting up when alarm goes off.” If all goes well you then find online execution easier.
So to circle back to building self-trust. You practice lots of pre-commitments in low stakes situations and make sure to reward yourself a lot (could just be internal rewards) when you succeed and don’t punish yourself when you fail. You are building the mental circuits associated with “I do what I say I will do.” After sufficient practice many things start becoming easier. The biggest spillover effect for me was that my internal selves started getting along much better when I could tell a sub-agent that I would attend to their needs later and have them actually believe it and calm down about the current situation. Eventually sub-agents stopped being so “grabby” about my attention.
BTW can we get Anna a time turner so she can post more? This is an excellent post.
Good comment; I’ve noticed this myself. Fyi, in case you didn’t know and might be interested, Nate Soares has written a few blog posts on this exact topic: Self-signaling the ability to do what you want and Productivity through self-loyalty.
I find that actually scheduling my task on a calendar makes it a lot easier to trust myself. If it’s on the calendar, I’m going to see it again, which means that my various sub modules can shout at me if I don’t address it.
I’ll have to try the offline training though—hadn’t heard of doing that before.
Agree. An exo-brain you can trust is stress reducing. It was non-obvious how much stress was being caused by trying to repeatedly remember all the things.