Could you give some examples of the concepts you describe?
(I clicked through to all the links you provided, but they were either very short on concrete examples, or the examples weren’t really of installing useful practical habits. Or am I misunderstanding, and TAPs aren’t intended for that sort of thing?)
When I get into my car I put my phone in the car-holder.
When someone says, “we should catch up” I take out my diary and say “when?”
When I hear about an event I open my diary and look at the date/put it into my diary the first time.
When I wake up I take my vitamins.
When I have a shower I charge my watch.
When my fridge is empty looking I write a shopping list.
How do you install a TAP like that? It seems hard to do 10x in a row when you’re currently in “deciding I should have a TAP for this” mode and not already feeling angry/defensive.
(Actually, same question about “when my fridge is empty looking”.)
EDIT: From conversation with other people it sounds like it’s usually sufficient to imagine the trigger and action, in detail, several times.
http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-to-train-noticing.html “I keep a search going on in the background for anything in the neighborhood of the experience I predicted. Odds are good I’ll miss several instances of weak contrary evidence, but as soon as I realize I’ve encountered one, I go into reflective attention so I’m aware of as many details of my immediate subjective experience as possible.”
The thing I’m having trouble with is: at some point in the future, the trigger I’m thinking about will happen. How will I notice/remember that that was a trigger? What can I do now, when the trigger has not yet happened, to make me remember later? I don’t think I know how to keep searches going in the background, or anything like that.
Partial solutions, to gesture at the gap: * Phone alarms for triggers that happen at a specific time (for the first few triggers, before the habit is formed) * Assign someone to watch me 24⁄7 and poke me in the side whenever a desired trigger happens * When I come up with an idea for a TAP, [my single-point-of-reference productivity Google Doc, under the “TAP” section, tells me to] close my eyes and imagine the trigger happening for 5 minutes
I’m confused by the number of posts on TAPs (excluding OP) that gloss over this part.
Could you give some examples of the concepts you describe?
(I clicked through to all the links you provided, but they were either very short on concrete examples, or the examples weren’t really of installing useful practical habits. Or am I misunderstanding, and TAPs aren’t intended for that sort of thing?)
When I get home I hang my keys on my door handle.
When I get home I take my laptop out of my bag.
When I get into my car I put my phone in the car-holder.
When someone says, “we should catch up” I take out my diary and say “when?” When I hear about an event I open my diary and look at the date/put it into my diary the first time.
When I wake up I take my vitamins.
When I have a shower I charge my watch.
When my fridge is empty looking I write a shopping list.
A lot of the power of TAPs comes when combining them with introspection techniques, so you get:
When I notice that I’m showing signs of anger or defensiveness, take a deep breath and ask myself “what is my goal here?”
When I notice that I’ve flinched away from a thought, look again at that thought
How do you install a TAP like that? It seems hard to do 10x in a row when you’re currently in “deciding I should have a TAP for this” mode and not already feeling angry/defensive.
(Actually, same question about “when my fridge is empty looking”.)
EDIT: From conversation with other people it sounds like it’s usually sufficient to imagine the trigger and action, in detail, several times.
I recommend reading Logan Strohl’s posts on Noticing. I don’t know how well organized they are but I suggest starting here: http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/p/noticing.html
Hmm, these posts feel like they’re skipping over the step I’m asking about, though.
Like, I don’t know how to do either of these things:
http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-art-of-noticing.html “Whenever you notice your trigger, make a precise physical gesture.”
http://agentyduck.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-to-train-noticing.html “I keep a search going on in the background for anything in the neighborhood of the experience I predicted. Odds are good I’ll miss several instances of weak contrary evidence, but as soon as I realize I’ve encountered one, I go into reflective attention so I’m aware of as many details of my immediate subjective experience as possible.”
The thing I’m having trouble with is: at some point in the future, the trigger I’m thinking about will happen. How will I notice/remember that that was a trigger? What can I do now, when the trigger has not yet happened, to make me remember later? I don’t think I know how to keep searches going in the background, or anything like that.
Partial solutions, to gesture at the gap:
* Phone alarms for triggers that happen at a specific time (for the first few triggers, before the habit is formed)
* Assign someone to watch me 24⁄7 and poke me in the side whenever a desired trigger happens
* When I come up with an idea for a TAP, [my single-point-of-reference productivity Google Doc, under the “TAP” section, tells me to] close my eyes and imagine the trigger happening for 5 minutes
I’m confused by the number of posts on TAPs (excluding OP) that gloss over this part.
Thanks, that’s helpful!
I thought the Kaj post had fairly concrete examples.
(I do agree it’d be handy if this post included some too though)