Re:Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will
by zmb_ on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @03:03AM
(#15746448)
For me it was very useful to understand that there are three things that need to coincide for an action to occur: 1) motivation, 2) ability, 3) trigger. Remove any one of them and the action won't occur.
When trying to get rid of undesired actions, many people (and guides) focus on the first one -- willpower. But that is the most fickle and difficult one to attack. It is much more effective to attack the other two: remove the ability (multiple layers of blocking certain websites, for example) and the trigger (identify the trigger and either find ways to avoid it or reprogram it by internalizing if-X-then-Y behaviors where X is the trigger).
This also works for building desired actions: make it as easy as possible to take the action, and program triggers to start them.
When trying to get rid of undesired actions, many people (and guides) focus on the first one -- willpower. But that is the most fickle and difficult one to attack. It is much more effective to attack the other two: remove the ability (multiple layers of blocking certain websites, for example) and the trigger (identify the trigger and either find ways to avoid it or reprogram it by internalizing if-X-then-Y behaviors where X is the trigger).
This also works for building desired actions: make it as easy as possible to take the action, and program triggers to start them.