https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breath:_The_New_Science_of_a_L...
- marshmallow test is invalid, if kids do not trust adult. It would not work on kids from rough neighbourhood, who would get second marshmallow stollen. Single marshmallow is logical choice in this case. Apply that on savings and inflation...
- if phone alarm does not wake you up, use lamp with timer. 10000 lumens works pretty well...
- phone doom scrolling can be avoided by switching phone into black and white, or inverting colors... Or disable java script everywhere... Or use very very slow proxy server...
Key is not to think about it. The moment you have to switch on your brain, to convince yourself, is the moment you lost!
Typical victimhood conspiracy theory.
> I avoid fighting the battle by making heavy use of screen time features to ban
So you avoid that by spending more time on your phone. And someone has parental control over your phone...?!
Attached it to a smart switch and programmed it to turn on at 7:30am every weekday.
I now get my best sleep between 7:30 and whatever time it is when I jump out of bed screaming because I've overslept.
The only thing that reliably wakes me up is the "Your New Morning Alarm" song by Marc Ribellet
I think the critiques are completely valid, Mischel did not account for many variables like socioeconomic status, family environment, etc. However, I do not believe it necessarily disproves his conclusion of being able to cultivate skills like self-control.
So regardless of the validity of the method proposed here, I'd say that framing this article around references to that experiment is a mistake.
i guess "it's not my fault" is an easier pill to swallow than "this weakness i have means i have to work harder than most people to compensate for it".
But I digress. If I want to lose weight, I know "going on a diet" is not how it works. You need lifestyle changes that you keep. You need to change your relationship with food, exercise, and have some self-restraint to continue to make better choices and hold yourself to them.
But that does require deciding that you should "lose weight" or perhaps "eat healthier". On the other hand, if you decide that two beers every so often is OK with you, well, of course, everyone is pretty much entitled to decide that for themselves. But maybe to some degree, self-discipline is also partly not letting oneself make excuses for their own pointlessly harmful (even if only a tiny bit at once) behaviors that they'd probably ultimately be better off without. It's easy, since well, all of us, including me, do this sort of thing all the time: we're only human, after all.
That said, there's obviously no objectively correct answer, it's definitely not that simple. Nobody orients their lives around just what is "healthier" or "safer" because that would be boring and depressing, no doubt about it. But to the point about alcohol, I don't really drink anymore and even though I never had a drinking problem, I just don't really miss it. It never really did a ton for me, I mostly am just dumber when drunk. I'd prefer to be in control of my state of mind for the most part, so I don't generally have interest in drugs that impair your state of mind much. Not to mention, alcohol is probably not good for you in moderation after all anyways, so eh.
I feel that it's pretty likely that people need to hear different things at different phases of life, though, and this is just what I feel like I need with where I'm at now. Maybe I'll have to throw it all out later :)
So...this is a method to develop iron self-discipline, which requires nothing to start save for iron self-discipline.
Of course doing anything requires some degree of self discipline, if you want to call it that. But not all actions need iron-clad discipline.
Edit: nvm looks like it's garbage lol https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/new-study-disavows-marshmal...
His point has nothing to do with the predictive powers of the test. Instead it's that the children who succeeded in deferring gratification succeeded by means of effective strategies rather than by stoicism or genetics.
"Please don't fulminate."
"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."
"When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. 'That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3' can be shortened to '1 + 1 is 2, not 3."
It's fine to disagree but please do so thoughtfully and without the vitriol or putdowns.
For what it's worth I would reword it as:
If you become aware that you’re scared, stressed or overactive and distracted, do some 4-4-4-4 box method breathing until your mind calms down. I believe this a better method than the one suggested in this article - it is a proven technique that’s used by military personnel in life or death scenarios. This post strikes me as a convoluted system that is going to be difficult to remember in the heat of the moment and therefore difficult to implement successfully. I am also sceptical about the effectiveness of the “ransom decision”. “10,000 learning cycles” of self discipline is also vague and doesn’t really map to the original 10,000 hours concept. I personally believe you’re far better off sticking to simple solutions for productivity and self discipline.
Not sure what the downside is of experimenting with new techniques to add to one's tool set? Keep in mind that I'm just a guy on the internet who discovered something that worked and decided to share it with others in the hope that they'd also find it helpful.
I say this as someone who was probably like you once. I took a Big 5 personality test in my mid twenties that said that I had a low conscientiousness score which meant that I was pretty much destined to be a low earner as a high conscientiousness score is the trait most linked to high earners and achievement. What followed was probably a period of about seven years where I also tried all the meditation techniques whilst relentlessly trying to optimise my productivity, work and life, resulting in an inevitable burn out.
Following that, I like many others on here, have ended up just using a few text files for organisation and I am probably more organised than I have ever been. I use one file with day headings with tasks underneath that I plan to do on each day. And then I have other files for projects that just contain lists of tasks relating to that project. When I'm ready to work on one of those tasks I move them into the main file. It's that simple. I am happier and more focussed than I was using any of these other systems.
I make my text files in Obsidian, other people use org mode, some people use Google/Apple notes and others use Vim and plain text files. Even though it lead me to where I am now, I still look back and cringe at all the wasted time and energy I spent investigating and using all these other systems. I've done comments on reddit and elsewhere outlining my own overly convoluted systems that I might go back and delete in case someone stumbles on them and they lead people down the wrong path. KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid, really is the best strategy. And I suspect that also applies to regaining control with breathing which is why 4-4-4-4 works so well.
I remember the enthusiasm and confidence I felt when I thought I'd found some great method and how much I wanted to share it so don't let me stop you if that's what you want to do. But I'd wager in five years you'll have forgotten all about this, you'll be using something far simpler, and you will probably also cringe if you do remember it or come across an article like this from someone else.
> Box breathing—also known as square breathing and 4-4-4-4 breathing—is a breathwork first popularized by Navy SEALs who used it to quickly sharpen concentration and enhance alertness. It requires inhaling for four counts, holding your breath for four counts, exhaling for four counts, and then holding your breath again for four counts.
I believe that would come under overactive and distracted considering the author states "Maybe you're doomscrolling a social feed instead of working on that important project."
What if it’s not life and death and you just want to resist the temptation to take a cookie from the cookie jar. 4-4-4-4 seems a bit overkill for that.
He also links to a blog post describing his “somewhat hardcore work routine” and how adhd is his “superpower”. It’s a hard pass from me.
