If you want to cut down on an activity without eliminating it completely, consider delegating the decision to a random mechanism.
As a concrete example, I’ve tried for the last year or so to cut down on the amount of sugared snacks I eat, which used to happen essentially daily. I tried only doing it on set days of the week, but on other days it felt unfair that Monday!Lachlan got to eat a custard tart and Tuesday!Lachlan had to miss out. I tried giving myself a budget for the week, but I tended to blow through it early, feel guilty, and then usually break it later in the week anyway. I switched recently to using a dice app on my smartphone. If I have the urge to eat a sugared snack, I roll a 4 sided die. If it comes up 4, I can eat it. This has been working successfully for me for 3 weeks now, with no sign of it breaking.
It makes me feel not guilty when I do come up 4, since it was the dice that let me eat something, and I know over the long term it will average out to the amount of eating I want. If I miss out, I don’t have myself to blame or get annoyed at, because it’s just the vagaries of an RNG.
I forgot to mention in the post itself. I only allow myself one roll a day, so I have to decide if I want to take the chance on something for a snack in the morning, or with lunch, or later on in the evening. I can’t train myself to throw dice like crazy because only the first one for a day counts.
If you want to cut down on an activity without eliminating it completely, consider delegating the decision to a random mechanism.
As a concrete example, I’ve tried for the last year or so to cut down on the amount of sugared snacks I eat, which used to happen essentially daily. I tried only doing it on set days of the week, but on other days it felt unfair that Monday!Lachlan got to eat a custard tart and Tuesday!Lachlan had to miss out. I tried giving myself a budget for the week, but I tended to blow through it early, feel guilty, and then usually break it later in the week anyway. I switched recently to using a dice app on my smartphone. If I have the urge to eat a sugared snack, I roll a 4 sided die. If it comes up 4, I can eat it. This has been working successfully for me for 3 weeks now, with no sign of it breaking.
It makes me feel not guilty when I do come up 4, since it was the dice that let me eat something, and I know over the long term it will average out to the amount of eating I want. If I miss out, I don’t have myself to blame or get annoyed at, because it’s just the vagaries of an RNG.
This is how I would train a pigeon to compulsively throw dice like crazy—Burrus F Skinner.
I don’t think this will be good to you in the long run.
I forgot to mention in the post itself. I only allow myself one roll a day, so I have to decide if I want to take the chance on something for a snack in the morning, or with lunch, or later on in the evening. I can’t train myself to throw dice like crazy because only the first one for a day counts.