Yeah, the wobbly chair story is a better example. Somehow, I feel more satisfied with it. Perhaps because it is a basically complete solution, for so little work?
But you fix the wobbly chairs so you can build up momentum to fix the dopamine addiction. And I’m not sure if I made this clear, but the stuff I tried for fixing my dopamine addiction did each help a bit, and now I know that if I really want to, I can stack them together to reset my dopamine system. Once done, it is a lot easier to continue to pause it.
So in that sense, these are permanent wins which have reduced the total amount of willpower I need to exert to partially fix my dopamine addictions.
I’ve been tackling many “wobbly chair” problems in my life in the last few years due in large part to adopting just such a mindset: by removing annoyances/distractions, removing friction, and developing new abilities via these types of efforts, I’m able to take on bigger problems and goals. It has been very good for me, in that the scope of my hobbies has grown… but it’s also surprisingly easy to feel like I’ve made no progress against the big issues on days where I’m unwell and struggle to concentrate. These “wobbly chair” type problems, once fixed, become invisible achievements, and I still often get trapped thinking I’m helpless against the big problems.
Yeah, the wobbly chair story is a better example. Somehow, I feel more satisfied with it. Perhaps because it is a basically complete solution, for so little work?
But you fix the wobbly chairs so you can build up momentum to fix the dopamine addiction. And I’m not sure if I made this clear, but the stuff I tried for fixing my dopamine addiction did each help a bit, and now I know that if I really want to, I can stack them together to reset my dopamine system. Once done, it is a lot easier to continue to pause it.
So in that sense, these are permanent wins which have reduced the total amount of willpower I need to exert to partially fix my dopamine addictions.
I’ve been tackling many “wobbly chair” problems in my life in the last few years due in large part to adopting just such a mindset: by removing annoyances/distractions, removing friction, and developing new abilities via these types of efforts, I’m able to take on bigger problems and goals. It has been very good for me, in that the scope of my hobbies has grown… but it’s also surprisingly easy to feel like I’ve made no progress against the big issues on days where I’m unwell and struggle to concentrate. These “wobbly chair” type problems, once fixed, become invisible achievements, and I still often get trapped thinking I’m helpless against the big problems.