Rule Set Complete At The Moment

To quickly summarise where I am (see previous posts for details): after years of lack of success in improving self control, which included reading many books, I took an online psychometric test which caused me to think that I'm basically going to have to solve my issues myself!

To my genuine surprise, this "debugging" has been going unbelievably well! Using the basic idea of establishing some rules that I believe that I can follow, and implementing only small forfeits for when they're not met (so that I know that the forfeits will be carried out), I have made a lot of progress.

The other big problem that I hadn't yet tackled was getting myself to bed at a reasonable time when an activity took me past the previous rule that prescribed behaviour at 21:00, and I have now implemented a rule to cover this as well - and even that is working!

Here are the current rules in full:

1. at 09:00, set a time to finish browsing, on pain of forfeit
2. lunch starts at 12:00, forfeit if not productive again by 14:00, unless a work issue arises during lunch break, in which case set a new time on calendar
3. at 21:00, set a completion time in calendar by 21:05
4. when an activity finishes after 21:00 (footy, TV programme etc), switching on a PC triggers an immediate forfeit (healthy sleep cycle trumps what other people think is important)

Simple but effective. So far, so good. My confidence is such that I am widening the gap to the next self-assessment meeting to 3 days.

Progress Report

In short, progress on getting to bed at a reasonable time has been ASTONISHING - and I have kept to my resolution to stop posting at forums. I have visited a couple of times after I said I would stop, and this is for two reasons: in the "real world", the iOS v Android battle has flared up in a big way - and it is genuinely very exciting! Unfortunately, my adversary, the Fanboy, has quoted one of my posts, even though he knows I have vowed to stop visiting - but I'm not going to reply, because I know full well that if I do, it will never end. In the other forum, I posted a new poll without a time limit - but that seems to have stopped getting new posts or votes. I have just resolved to not visit either forum again until 17:00 on Friday - I want to be out of the habit of visiting them ASAP, but not miss any further responses to any of my own posts.

With those two time and energy killers seemingly under control, it's time to look at the other big issue - getting to work as soon as work time rolls around. Since self-administered threat of small forfeits has worked well for bedtime, I will apply the same method for starting work at the correct time as well. It probably wouldn't work if I was a more generous person - but since it does work, I will use it. Common alternatives are unavailable to me. I cannot, for example, ask another person to monitor me, because I cannot run even the tiniest risk that either my family or my employer discover that I have been slack about starting work at the correct time.

My bedtime method is to use the Windows Task Scheduler to require a target bedtime by 21:00, a check that this has been done at 21:05, and then I use the Google Calendar to monitor that I hit the target set on pain of a small forfeit (it is surprising that the threat of a small forfeit (small enough for me to know for sure that it WILL be carried out!) works - but it does - so I am grateful for having devised this method).

Thus, my plan for good starts is as follows:

* alert at 9:00 for start time
* check done at 9:05
* alert for lunch break at 12:00
* check done at 12:05
* forfeit if not working again by 14:00

Update 25-Oct-11: morning start and lunchtime control both used today - and both worked. These simple ideas genuinely have the potential to make big, important changes to my life!

The Utter Futility Of Me Supporting A Football Team

Went to the pub to watch Wolves v Swansea. Missed the first 15 mins - the telly wasn't tuned. Eventually, two of the bar staff got the game on a Greek channel, and said "This proves that women can be technical too!".

Wolves went two goals down, and I started to reflect on how unrewarding following a football team is. Our manager (Mick McCarthy) is stupid: few of our attacks looked dangerous, whereas all of theirs did. The reason supporters love him is his way of talking, and the fact that many of Wolves recent managers have actually been even worse than him.

I'm not from Wolverhampton, I have no friends who support either Wolves or a related team, and, in truth, they are a very ordinary Premiership team. My support for them comes from an earlier time when I didn't know any better. A major part of being successful is "cutting your losses", rather than keeping them and letting them become a millstone.

I have recently read the James Altucher blog on the value of being grateful - and as the misery grew, I reflected that I should be grateful for all this insight as a time-saver!

Wolves eventually scored 2 goals in the last 5 mins to equalise. Still an absolutely disgusting result - as anything less than winning would have been.

Life Changing Discovery

On Monday (17-Oct-11), I discovered the Big Five Personality test. What it showed me is that I am in the bottom percentile for "agreeableness". Suddenly, everything became clear - after all these years! I am never going to be popular on forums, despite the fact that I often prepare my posts with great care - so I'll stop frequenting those - they're for people with strong herding instincts - not for the likes of me.

It also made me realise that nobody whom I don't pay very well (which I cannot afford) will ever be able to help me but myself - so I have started daily self-improvement sessions for myself. As improvement comes, I anticipate being able to reduce the frequency of them. Already I believe I've got a handle on getting myself to go to bed earlier - so far, this completely unexpected revelation (I found the personality test on an aggregation blog - and VERY nearly didn't do it!) has done nothing but good for me!!!