I realized that my success or failure at work does influence what I do in my free time more than I expected… even after I took measures to prevent it.
Specifically, in recent months I have built a habit to take a 20-minutes nap when I return home from the work. I set the alarm clock and go to bed; sometimes I sleep, sometimes I don’t, but the rule is to forget the work and just daydream either about something pleasant or about my long-term goals, and what I could do in the remaining part of the day. Originally, this was supposed to be a preparation for later polyphasic sleep experiment; later I decided against polyphasic experiments, but I kept this habit as helpful. It does really reset the brain, and the rest of the day feels like a micro-weekend.
Anyway, I keep statistics of what I do each day, as a result of my self-improving attempt designed at the Rationality Minicamp. Essentially a list of “yes or no” questions (did I exercise on given day? did I meditate? did I learn something new? did I write an article for my blog? did I avoid eating sugar? did I avoid procrastinating on internet? did I socialize with my friends? etc.), and the daily score is the number of “yes” answers. -- And I have noticed that during the weeks where I have some problems at work my “daily score” is visibly lower than during the weeks where the work is OK. The difference is cca 3 points per day of a bad week versus 4.5 points per day of a good week. (Note: My success in work is not included in the score. This is the impact my success in work has on things I do outside of my work.)
Obvious or not? It feels likely that success at work improves one’s mood, and a good mood is generally helpful for winning. On the other hand, I probably wouldn’t make specific predictions of a kind: “I am more likely to exercise in the evening if I spend my work day coding in Java than if I spend my working day trying to fix a bug in NetBeans.” But it seems to be true.
EDIT: This result is not completely experimentally proven: I keep records about my “daily score”, but don’t keep records about my success at work. There is a chance this is just a convenient excuse. However, if this is true, it gives me some insight into the mystery of “willpower”. The hypothesis is that if I feel successful at doing X, I will have more “willpower” to work at Y. That the success seems to radiate into other areas of life, and so does failure. Instrumentally: “If you want to fix Y, fix X, even if there is there is no relation between X and Y other than that X makes you feel helpless and you can fix X now.”
I realized that my success or failure at work does influence what I do in my free time more than I expected… even after I took measures to prevent it.
Specifically, in recent months I have built a habit to take a 20-minutes nap when I return home from the work. I set the alarm clock and go to bed; sometimes I sleep, sometimes I don’t, but the rule is to forget the work and just daydream either about something pleasant or about my long-term goals, and what I could do in the remaining part of the day. Originally, this was supposed to be a preparation for later polyphasic sleep experiment; later I decided against polyphasic experiments, but I kept this habit as helpful. It does really reset the brain, and the rest of the day feels like a micro-weekend.
Anyway, I keep statistics of what I do each day, as a result of my self-improving attempt designed at the Rationality Minicamp. Essentially a list of “yes or no” questions (did I exercise on given day? did I meditate? did I learn something new? did I write an article for my blog? did I avoid eating sugar? did I avoid procrastinating on internet? did I socialize with my friends? etc.), and the daily score is the number of “yes” answers. -- And I have noticed that during the weeks where I have some problems at work my “daily score” is visibly lower than during the weeks where the work is OK. The difference is cca 3 points per day of a bad week versus 4.5 points per day of a good week. (Note: My success in work is not included in the score. This is the impact my success in work has on things I do outside of my work.)
Obvious or not? It feels likely that success at work improves one’s mood, and a good mood is generally helpful for winning. On the other hand, I probably wouldn’t make specific predictions of a kind: “I am more likely to exercise in the evening if I spend my work day coding in Java than if I spend my working day trying to fix a bug in NetBeans.” But it seems to be true.
EDIT: This result is not completely experimentally proven: I keep records about my “daily score”, but don’t keep records about my success at work. There is a chance this is just a convenient excuse. However, if this is true, it gives me some insight into the mystery of “willpower”. The hypothesis is that if I feel successful at doing X, I will have more “willpower” to work at Y. That the success seems to radiate into other areas of life, and so does failure. Instrumentally: “If you want to fix Y, fix X, even if there is there is no relation between X and Y other than that X makes you feel helpless and you can fix X now.”