How to Focus Better While Meditating

Deliberately practicing concentration dramatically improves ALL meditation.

Some of the old Buddhist training manuals treat concentration practice as a prerequisite to any other meditation. Nowadays, I think that's solid advice for most people, especially since every app, smartphone, and email ding is designed for distraction.

This method trains granular focus (something I’ll describe in more detail later in the article) and incorporates several accelerated learning and behavioral strategies.

Practicing Granular Focus

• Get a stop watch. Make sure it has a physical button so you don't have to check to see if you've started or stopped the timer.

• Set up a log book. I use Google sheets. Set columns for the date and/or the day, 3 separate columns for times, and one last column for a daily average.

• Select an object of meditation. There are a lot of traditional ones. I'd select something that is really clear. Objects in the mind tend to morph, and you want one where there’s a clear delineation between being “on target” vs muddling it into something else.
  
  I also like selecting a visual object, rather than focusing on the breath (though if that works for you, be clear to isolate what you mean - is it the breath near the nose? The movement of your chest?). I like images because there are other practices that use visualization - I find those very helpful, so I'd rather kill two birds with one stone here.
  
  I imagine a candle flame.

• Go somewhere quiet. While mindfulness can be trained by including distractions as a part of the meditation, this is a targeted practice that actually does, to start with at least, require some amount of solitude.

• Do the practice. Summon the object to mind and focus on it. Hit the timer. As soon as your focus changes or shifts or morphs in ANY WAY from that object, hit the timer again. Record your time. Repeat 2 more times. Average the times and record that.

• Tips and comments. You will probably average a few seconds per try…. Like 2 seconds. That is completely normal. We are training super fine attention here.

  Do NOT follow the normal advice when doing this type of training, which is to "focus, and then gently bring the attention back".
  It's 3 discrete, separate sessions, done back to back with a clear beginning and ending. Also, don't worry about forcing it. As long as you're consistent your mind will adapt.

I trained in this for several months and got some really awesome results. Every other meditation technique was just easier.

But why does this work so well?

MEASURING CONCENTRATION

For one, that which we observe, we change. I think it's a pretty clear tendency used a lot in gamification and the quantified self movement.

The problem with meditation and focus is that there usually isn't a clear metric of improvement.

Here you've got one, and you can even graph it.

ACCELERATING LEARNING

Secondly, deliberate practice accelerates learning. Studies on elite practitioners across many fields suggest that those who focused on what they already knew performed worse than those who practiced on the point at which they were making mistakes. It’s the difference between generally playing a song over and over again and painstakingly drilling problem sections.

Zoning in on the moment when focus shifts is the inflection point you’re training with concentration, something that's glossed over when you just "focus on the breath and gently bring attention back" - which is the equivalent of just generally playing a song again and again. Sure, you'll get better just from sheer practice, but the skill graph will be be steeper when you hit and track your problem areas.

TINY HABITS

Third, this type of practice is incredibly short. When I first started, the entire thing took a minute or two per day tops - and that’s including recording. Behavioral scientist B.J. Fogg has done a lot of research on the power of small behaviors, showing how they boost our ability to stick to routines across time.

Starting with a ludicrously small meditation habit like this increases the chances of making it a part of your life.

THE BENEFITS OF CONCENTRATION PRACTICE

Mindfulness practitioners sometimes report feelings of immense anxiety and depression arising in practice.

This makes total sense to me - some practices like choiceness awareness (observing whatever comes up in the mind in a non-judgmental manner) are like opening the floodgates of the subconscious. If you are prone to mental health issues, that’s not a good thing. Developing granular focus is one method to bypass such anxiety because it builds up the skills needed to focus on the other aspects of the technique.

As someone with extreme anxiety, this never became a problem for me, and I believe it was because I started out training granular focus, which prevented me from being swept away by the torrent of my own mind.

I also noticed that other practices just got easier. Whether you’re sending out loving-kindness, summoning gratitude, or visualizing your negativity turning to light, they all require control.

Concentration practice is like lifting weights; it makes all other mental endeavors easier.

I can’t help but find many parallels to such practice and the work of Cal Newport, especially in his book Deep Work. Newport is one of my favorite thinkers - he talks about how our tendency to multitask doesn’t actually accomplish much, and one of the great capacities to develop these days is this type of focus.

One of my students trained with this method and I could see her change before my eyes. She was generally quite scattered - any distraction in a conversation and the thread was lost. After a few months it was startling how much she would circle back to the open threads and actually focus in daily life. It was like watching someone get cured of ADHD before my eyes.

THE SECRET TO CONCENTRATION

A long time ago when I was a kid I came across this technique from, of all people, children's author Roald Dahl. In The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar the titular character uses a stop watch to time granular concentration. As I mentioned before, the practice is very different from the normal focused attention instructions in a few key ways.

We usually use the term “concentration” to describe generally getting absorbed in a book, or a TV show. But at a minute level, our minds are moving quickly from one thought to the next. So while we might be reading, we’ll also notice the cars outside, or the ticking of a clock, or even a small worry about a deadline. Our mind will shift from the book to the clock back to the book again incredibly fast.

Preventing the mind from manically shifting and focusing the mind to stick on whatever you choose is the granular attention that I’m referencing.

I finally ended up trying Dahl’s technique, I've taught it to others, and it's improved our focus dramatically. Try it out yourself, and let me know how it goes.

Monthly Musings April 2021

In this column I share articles, books, research, and thoughts related to the science of self-help, along with experiments and random rabbit holes I’ve gone down across the previous month.

This last month was all about podcasts. Three podcasts I had previously recorded were released. It was a fun experience and I hope to do more in the future. I also got a chance to talk to several app developers who reached out to me, including one trying to fuse behavioral science with planning, and another using artificial intelligence to combat smoking and eating issues.

I completed a massive 5 month experiment on fusing dog training and Stoicism. In addition I experimented with “floating” habits and another attempt at forming a habit in a day. I started weight lifting again after getting a full weight set and used sets as breaks from work. I completed a month of vegetarianism (ovo-lactose pescatarianism), sketched out a method to fall in love with habits using ritual and mindfulness, and attempted tantric drawing based on an article on aphantasia. More details on all of that below:

What’s New

• An interview with my My First Step Ever on how you can create lasting change to achieve your goals (Youtube | Spotify)

• An in-depth podcast with Critical Mind, Embodied Spirit on the science of self-help and my Elements of Change (Spotify)

• A chat with Nate at the Begin Within Podcast on how to stay motivated in making big changes (Youtube | Spotify)

Interesting Articles

• Aphantasia (inability to visualize mental images) doesn’t mean a lack of imagination (Psyche)

• The science behind intuition (A Life of Productivity)

• Self-help is a form of magical thinking (Aeon)

• The science of fatigue resistance (Outside)

Research

• How to train yourself to find disgusting things less gross (study)

• How to take the sting out of negative experiences (study)

• Targeted dream incubation and engineering dreams (study)

Experiments and Things I’m Looking Into

• Lumme - an app on smart watches that uses AI and wrist gestures to combat vices

• End of 5 months of attempting to clicker train Stoicism using reframes

• Month 8 of progressive food testing. This month I went vegetarian. Despite looser adherence, it’s successfully leading to weight loss. Or it might be the weight lifting.

• Experiment with a “floating habit” - the idea is that triggers pinned at a certain action in a day (like waking up) are inherently flawed. Eventually, skill based habits will need to move, either to accommodate advancement or classes or group activities, etc. Pinning a behavior on a unique alarm of some kind allows greater agility. I can move it without having to reestablish triggers - it might even make it adjustable to other life interruptions like travel.

• Another experiment in trying to create a habit in a day. A lot of learning occurs out to sleep - get more sleep and learning seems to improve. Noa at Bulletproof Musician theorized that if you just took a nap in the middle of the day you might be able to double up learning. What if the same thing occurs when creating a habit? In this experiment (I’ll write about it in detail soon) I added a long nap to the previous protocols.

Social

• A massive list of mental exercises to pick yourself up faster when emotions are weighing you down (Reddit)

• Rituals, the last of my original 31 Elements of Change (Instagram)

• A theory of behavioral Stoicism (Reddit)

• Stacking Elements - or reverse engineering addictive behaviors and common productivity techniques (Instagram)

• How exactly mindfulness helped my depression (Reddit)

• Using mindfulness to scroll social media (Reddit)

• How to condition yourself to become obsessed (Reddit)

• What is the core meaning of tantra? (Reddit)

• What is the best pranayama routine before bed (Reddit)

Miscellaneous & Esoteric

• Tantric drawing. According to this article on aphantasia, people who cannot visualize mental images aren’t necessarily less creative. In fact, they might appear more creative if they have to use drawn visuals as an aid. Tantric meditation is my go-to meditation practice when I’m feeling particularly low, yet it’s often hard to start and teach. But what if you could draw it out, using sketching as a beginning step? I tried this on a bad day and it worked out really well.

• Resiliency meditation. This month I attempted a more in-depth form of reframing. In reframing a simple phrase can be used to look at an experience in a different manner. This doesn’t always work if the feeling doesn’t change internally, especially if you’re already swirling into negativity. In this meditation I attempted to “pulse” the pure emotion of resilience. I used several pictures of various characters and figures who seem to embody this emotion in my mind to accrue the feeling of resilience, like with compassion meditation. I then eventually started pulsing it on its own. My hope was that this would supercharge my Stoic dog training experiment.

• Attempted to reverse engineer the love of an action. I’ve talked to a lot of people on this, and it’s clear that it involves unique types of mindfulness. Connoisseurs do this by using technical terminology and comparison - they actively appreciate small details, and learn the stories and history behind an action. I attempted to refine the process and started trying to apply it to mundane activities and things I don’t really like.

• The CIA declassified files on experiments on how to rapidly get into deep states of meditation quickly. I’m still in the process of checking all of this out.

If you’ve got any interesting links, books, comments, or suggestions, shoot me an email at scienceofselfhelp (at) gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!

2020 Year in Review

2020 was a crazy year. As for many, it included a lot of setbacks, but also a lot of forced growth 

HABITS

This year I made some of my most efficiently formed habits yet. I tested out methods to form a habit in a day - which ultimately failed, but I learned a lot about the process and hastened it significantly. From that came a potential habit equation, something I’ve long theorized on, but never had the technical or mathematical ability to uncover.

I also tested a novel method - what I call “habit splicing”-  to smoothly connect two habits together in order to cross train the larger behavior.

THEORIES AND EXPERIMENTS

Habit splicing was brought on by a new meta model that goes beyond habits into “lifestyles” - a sequence of habits in a row used to bypass skill plateaus and the lag time needed to efficiently form a habit.

I tested methods to extend Cal Newport’s theories of “Deep Work” - stretching out my focused concentration by manipulating larger variables like energy. This got me into some really interesting research on how to work on both sides of the concentration and willpower divide, exploring activities that are actually BOOSTED when willpower is low.

I also successfully mapped out a bad day, using a number of techniques to replenish willpower, even when I had nothing left in the tank. I measured this using a hand grip dynamometer, a device some old studies used, which matched quite well with my subjective feelings of self control. This opens the door of further direct testing on willpower and how it would play into a larger potential self help equation.

I sketched out the problems of “lazy” polymathy - learning multiple skills in tandem - and the behavioral techniques it would theoretically rest upon. I completed a 90 day tally clicking challenge on anxiety, which worked spectacularly well. It is, as far as I can tell, the first graphed out map of mindset and how to scientifically and accurately change it. 

This - and a chance video posted on the Houston Stoic group - gave me the idea of fusing behavioral science with Stoicism in order to better achieve emotional mastery and deal with all my mental health issues in one fell swoop. I started that project about a month ago, and it seems to be progressing well.

MISCELLANEOUS/APPLICATIONS

I came up with a number of new techniques during 2020. These include a new resiliency meditation that borrows from vipassana and loving-kindness practices. I also used a dating reality show to practice “Awkwardness Meditation”. I tested out micro meditations of 1 -2 minutes, made gratitude PowerPoints,  and used an electronic tally counter for a mechanical, external form of mindfulness that I believe is a fantastic entry into the practice - and worked especially well when I was feeling overwhelmed.

I took part in an incredible, full on Vedic ritual with my parents to imbue my tally counter. I started other rituals like “shitty art nights” and resurrected my weekend menus.

I got several other counters (finger and a necklace) to accommodate the large amounts of clicks from my resiliency training project. I bought an HRV monitor to try to track meditative states. I got an assault bike for HIITS, Timular (a physical device to track multiple broken up projects), a rower, and a trampoline to test “rebounding”.

LEARNING

I also grew my personal library of antiquarian self help books (most from a hundred years ago). They are fascinating in their many good AND bad ideas. I learned more about other ancient forms of self help - tantra, Western occult, Theosophy, New Thought, Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Ralstonism. Looking to the future, I researched Artificial Intelligence theories and their take on advanced nonlinear planning. I found out about Applied Behavioral Analysis and their methods on training autistic children, an approach remarkably similar to my own. And I finally figured out how to use my local library system to get full access to science journals. In the past I had two jobs where I had to build databases of journal articles for very niche topics. I never thought it would come in handy, but I’ve already begun doing the same with this project.

I started bouldering at my climbing gym before it closed, took up whittling, learned to design on Canva, took classes on site traffic, website SEO, and Instagram.

Most importantly, I finished a very intense course on meditation - the Finder’s Course - rigorously trying over 30 different types of meditation, many of which I had never heard of before. This lead to some very advanced practices and experiences.

ATTEMPTED AND FAILED

It wasn’t all good. I had spectacular setbacks in publication. I pitched almost a 100 different magazines. And while I’m glad I had positive feedback and “almosts” with some high end ones - The Washington Post, the BBC, Yoga Journal, Scientific American, and The New Yorker - it all went horribly wrong. In some cases, I had commissioned articles pulled after working a great deal on them.

TRAVEL

I got accepted for a press trip to go on a UNESCO pilgrimage in Japan where I would stay at traditional inns, eat super local food, hang out with a Yamabushi monk, and forge a knife with a Kyoto sword maker. I got accepted to write it all up for Travel and Leisure, a magazine that has long eluded me.

That, of course, was all cancelled due to the pandemic. I did however learn how to travel in different ways. I went on a trip to the Texas hill country and did a lot of local exploration, visiting old towns, old shops and antique stores in the many villages and neighborhoods in and around Houston 

I reconnected with a lot of old friends - taking part in and organizing group zoom calls, boardgame nights, movie nights, socially distanced picnics, book clubs and long phone calls. 

I walked in parks a lot.

PUTTING MYSELF OUT THERE

Zoom made conferences easier. I checked out the Embodiment Conference, and ones put on by Adobe, Issuu, and Later. I applied to be a speaker at StoicCon (and didn’t make it). I applied for a Gotham Fellowship and entered a flash fiction writing contest (also a no from them). I participated a lot in a Facebook writer’s group and started answering questions on Reddit on my project. 

My failures in publishing forced me to to focus on my own brand. I used a lot of methods from my classes to boost traffic to my site, increasing visits by 214% from last year. And I grew a completely new instagram account from nothing to over 6K followers. Most recently I collaborated with a friend on an Instagram Live discussion on habits - my first foray into video.

—

2020 didn’t go the way I had planned. But I learned a whole hell of a lot along the way. I hope you did too. Happy New Year!

Can You Form a Habit in a Day?

ANSWER: Almost

THE EXPERIMENT

According to the research, habits take on average 66 days to form. But that varies considerably - in the study, some took 18 days and more complicated ones took an estimated 254 days. In my own research I’ve found that the more techniques I used and the more tiny the habit, the quicker they formed. 

What if I used the average and discharged the trigger and response 66 times in one day? 

Using my regular exercise trigger (finishing a glass of matcha) and a new exercise response (riding on a stationary assault bike), I took the Self Report Habit Index (SRHI) before, after, and the next few days.

The SRHI is the go-to scale for habit research, where 12 is the lowest score, the highest is 84, and 70 is considered a habit. 

THE RESULTS

Before (Day 0): SRHI = 12

After 66 Reps (Day 1): SRHI = 35

Morning (Day 2): SRHI = 38

After workout (Day 2): SRHI = 65

Morning (Day 3): SRHI = 67

After Workout (Day 3): SRHI = 64

After weekend (no habits on weekends) (Day 5): SRHI = 71

On Day 1 the difference was significant, but unsurprising.

On day 2 I was distracted working on something, but before I knew it I had finished my glass of matcha and almost panicked as the overwhelming urge took over to immediately get on the bike. It was an incredibly strong automatic response, more powerful than a lot of my other, older habits. 

I was worried that the effect would fade, but it hovered at roughly the same score after a day, then shot up after a weekend of not doing it. 

While not a complete habit after one day at 65-67, it was quite a jump. For comparison, my old habits reached a 65 on the SRHI between 27-48 days. My recent streamlined habits – rowing, planning, and flossing – all reached a 65 on the SRHI on day 15.

And a habit in 5 days is incredible, assuming it continues to hold steady.

BACKGROUND

Over the last few months I’ve been experimenting with transitioning between two habits in a lifestyle (I’m defining a “lifestyle” here as a sequence of related habits across a year). Unfortunately for my exercise lifestyle, I injured my foot badly during the transition from rowing to walking/running. 

After healing, I was stuck in a weird spot - detrained from rowing, yet not fully on walking/running. We got a stationary assault bike, which is great for recovery, but I was frustrated because I’d have to start a new habit from scratch. 

But it gave me the opportunity to test out this attempt to “hack” the SRHI. 

My exercise habit was always triggered by finishing my afternoon cup of matcha. So, I decided to make it simple and splash a bit of matcha in my usual glass, knock it back as the trigger, and peddle on the bike a few times as the response.

HYPOTHESIS

The SRHI assesses a few vectors: automaticity, length of time, routine, and identity. 

My theory was that repeating something 66 times with a clear trigger and response was only going to change the “automaticity” angle.

In an old post I theorized on manipulating facets of the SRHI. I actually got a response from Dr. Bas Verplanken, one of the creators of the scale. He said that habits are ALL angles of the SRHI, so manipulating one was unlikely to make a habit. Nevertheless, I thought this might at least give me a leg up on the process.

I’m also interested as to if habit formation is a type of learning. In accelerated learning research, quality sleep appears to have a huge effect on integrating skills and information. My theory was that testing the SRHI after a night of sleep would also result in a boost as the practice was integrated.

WHAT HAPPENED

66 repetitions took a long time. I focused more on the end of my trigger (drinking a bit of matcha) and made the peddling response even smaller just for time’s sake. I went out on a break and got a couple of drinks before returning. The whole process took until around midnight. I was also distracted, watching a tv show through the entire process. All of those peripheral actions may have influenced the process.

WHY IT MIGHT HAVE WORKED

I’ve always felt that zooming in on the trigger and response was key to automaticity. But I’ve never zoomed in this much, especially with the end of the trigger, which is why I believe it was so powerfully automatic on Day 2.

But the gains in my habit score suggest that more than just automaticity was improving.

Based on a few studies, we know that identity can become permeable. In one test, children were able to regenerate or borrow self control by pretending to act as fictional characters (known as the Batman Effect). But this “borrowing” phenomenon worked better for those who were already depleted. 

We also know that lowered executive functioning results in greater creativity. Distracting the mind through small tasks, occupying it with difficult problems, or imbibing alcohol all contribute to this.

By happenstance, I fulfilled several of these permeability inducing behaviors. I was:

• pretty tired, finishing the test late

• distracted, watching a tv show

• had a few drinks

Is it possible that this effected the identity vector of habit formation?

Lastly, while a night of sleep improved scores twice, I don’t think they were significant increases.

FUTURE TESTS

As I said above, finishing my cup of matcha is my already established cue for an exercise habit. While I covered for this by initially taking the SRHI for the habit of riding my stationary bike - and getting the lowest possible score - I’d like to test this accelerated method on an entirely new trigger and response.

But what surprised me was how taking a weekend off changed my scores. In the past I’ve noticed my SRHI strength consistently increase by NOT doing a habit once in a while. That makes sense with regards to a specific question on the scale - “Does it feel weird NOT doing the habit” - something you can’t really ascertain if you’re TOO consistent.

It also makes sense in relation to improving in skills, where it seems learning occurs more efficiently when we are exposed to differing relationships – like how shooting hoops at different distances makes one more skilled at gauging force, and angles.

The weekend off also messed with my perception of time. Which leads me to wonder if the time vector of habits can also be manipulated more. According to a quick Wikipedia scan, the subjective perception of time can be dilated through experiencing cold, fear, or awe. Could using icepacks, watching horror movies, or maybe viewing amazing photography of landscapes help build a habit faster?

And what about other accelerated learning techniques? According to one study, students who had a scent present while studying AND while asleep later that night had a 30 percent boost in memorized vocabulary. If automaticity is a learned behavior, could this accelerate habit formation as well?

MY BIGGEST TAKEAWAY

Learning a complex skill in a day may just be the ultimate Holy Grail of self development. But a habit in a day is a pretty close second.

The biggest application from this experiment wasn’t just that 66 repetitions effects habit formation. Rather, it was that zooming in to the very point of contact between the end of triggers and the beginning of responses created such a dramatic automatic behavior. That’s something I want to to apply to every habit.

And the potential for other methods of accelerated habit formation opens the door to new experiments, the results of which could change the entire productivity game.

What Is Meditation and What Are its Benefits?

I’ve tried many types of meditation. But from mindfulness to loving-kindness, from Stoic visualizations to single pointed concentration, meditation is, at its most basic, mental training.

Specifically, it trains your mind from being swept away by the fickleness of emotions.

Let's say you have a bad day.

The causal result of a bad situation is getting down. That's normal - and it's encoded in almost everyone's actions and all throughout media. Car cut you off? You’re going to honk angrily. Someone yell at you? You might snap back or get sad.

Meditation Improves Mental Control

But meditation gives you more control over that. You’ll reach calmer states, even joyous ones, at will irrespective of the situation you're in.

That's a crazy, almost logic-defying ability, and I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it described and demonstrated, and practiced it myself.

If free will is a sliding scale, then the vast majority of us are slaves to our previous upbringing and experiences, or the situations we currently find ourselves in. Meditation is the slow nudging of that meter towards greater freedom in an unfair, unjust world.

This capacity can effect everything from countering depression and anxiety, making clearer decisions, managing physical pain, fighting through fear and uncomfortable situations, to just feeling good. At the very least, it trains us to maintain grace in the many mundane moments life loves to provide, like long lines, annoying computer issues, or traffic.

Meditation Helps Manage Depression, Anxiety, and Fear

Personally, I suffer from massive depression and anxiety. Meditation has helped that significantly. I no longer feel like I'm in a prison with the cell locked. Some days, it's bad, and sometimes I don't feel like doing the mental exercises. But I know I always have that option of walking out. The jail cell is unlocked and hanging open. I’m not trapped, and that makes a huge, fundamental difference in my life.

Meditation has greatly helped me navigate (and sometimes actually enjoy!) my many fears - fear of new situations, fear of heights, fear of horror shows, even fear of roller coasters.

Meditation Eases Physical Pain and Breaks Bad Habits

I've managed physical pain with meditation, and it's helped me with addiction and breaking habits. I've been able to wade through those mundane annoyances with aplomb. I can better recognize, welcome, and rise above common patterns where I get nervous and frustrated, greeting them as old friends who will inevitably leave.

Meditation Improves Relationships

But most importantly, I've been able to have incredibly uncomfortable and awkward conversations with those that I'm close to, like my parents. This has significantly deepened my relationships and in some cases turned them around completely.

It isn't perfect for me. It wasn't like magically flipping on a switch and still isn't. I still struggle with situations. And I'm still gunning for the ultimate end goal, which is to make that state of equanimity last permanently.

But as far as I may be from that peak of mental perfection, I look back to when I first started consistently meditating, and it's hard to see the parts of my life that HAVEN’T benefited.

I Finished a Planner for the First Time

Here’s what I learned from 20 months of planning…

Last week marks the first time I’ve ever reached the end of any planner.

(I also ran out of ink - also a first. I’ve usually lost my pen well before that ever happens!)

I evolved and learned a lot in the last 20 months since formalizing a planning habit.

THE GOOD

I started with Bullet Journaling. 

I found it incredibly adaptable. It let me make up sheets as I went along - from jotting thoughts to taking notes at meetings. The indexing system helped me keep track of it all (even though I started getting lax at going back and actually indexing pages).

It helped me accomplish tasks at different rates. Early on in my planning journey, I used the metaphor of compound interest towards long-term projects. If I was consistent about doing them, it didn’t matter if I only did a little bit a week – the work surprisingly added up fast. My tendency is to work linearly, attending to tasks that need doing now. But working in 10 to 40 minute sets per week helped me finish big tasks like a grant proposal, a fellowship application, and a book proposal. I was even able to finish a book for a club discussion without panicking and cramming the reading all at the last minute (which has definitely been my M.O. in the past). 

It helped me develop long-term strategy. I did this by focusing on the low end of output and time (planned mediocrity). Overestimating the time needed for a task better equipped me to see where I’d be the next week instead of hoping to be there. The added psychological benefit was that I tended to exceed expectations.

A planning habit also worked wonders with off-time. “Weekend menus,” which I’ve used in the past, came back in a more consistent manner, and I felt more energized, attended more organizations, and explored more of my city as a result. 

I created flowcharts for standardized tasks, and also learned how to plan a trip. Although I’ve traveled a lot, I’ve always been reliant on happenstance or Lydia’s amazing planning skills. I planned road trips, national travel, and even city exploration of different neighborhoods. It’s developed into a replicable system that gave me a sense of competency, which really can’t be emphasized enough.

Lastly, I created a robust planning metric. In the past I’ve found that a solid assessment of a behavior allows me to try different techniques to see what works to improve scores. This worked wonders for my sleep, and this simple planning index showed me where I needed improvement on a week-to-week basis. I intend to publish it as a post of its own, but here I’ll reveal that it assesses the number and types of tasks, emotional calmness, adaptation ability, and time estimation accuracy. It’s a work in progress, but I’m still quite proud of it as a practical diagnostic tool.

But not everything worked so well

THE BAD

Lydia suggested separating days to focus on specific tasks - like “pitching Mondays” or “social media Wednesdays”. This didn’t quite stick. Nor did attempting a project-oriented graph, like what Brandon Sanderson does for his work. 

Which is unfortunate - in one article Holly Lisle mentions how she can project with accuracy how long her books will take to write. That’s something I envy, but is pretty difficult without knowing for sure how long specific tasks (like creative ones, or editing) take. It’s all the more frustrating because in many instances jumbling tasks up is the most efficient way to do them, even if it’s hard to time.

For example, after I finish a first draft, it’s better to take a break and do something else before editing. You gain some distance, and are able to view your writing with fresh eyes. But it’s more difficult to time a project when you’re threading it with other work.

So I bought Timeular - a dice-like gadget that times various projects depending on how you hold it. Timular will show you how long Task A takes overall even if you’re interrupting it constantly with Tasks B and C.

However, I had a problem using it because I wanted to somehow divide tasks according to their behavioral efficacy. If Task A is made up of tiny tasks of editing and creativity, then those need to be treated separately and are best planned out to match my energy levels. Creative tasks are best done when tired, analytic tasks like editing are better done when alert.

This issue of syncing up broken up projects and smaller behavioral tasks is a huge mess that I’m still working on.

Assigning tasks was really problematic because there ended up being three different things to take care of: Whether I was distracted or not, whether it was early or late in the day, and how to fit it all into days of the week. 

Furthermore some tasks were contingent on other tasks, others were emotionally draining, others required help, etc.

My attempt to create a BUJO-style key that included behavioral elements

I was also bad at looking at the big picture. Looking over this notebook, I can see how I still lack a true method of long term strategy. Circling back to hone in average task times almost never happened (other than a weekly post mortem to see how I did on the planning metric). And I also didn’t have a set time to go back over to-do items, causing a lot of tasks and reminders to get lost in the cracks.

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS

Long term strategy and emotional tricks are two standouts I need to work on. The idea of somehow becoming utterly calm and unflappable, while at the same time getting a lot done on multiple types and rates of projects, is incredibly appealing.

I’m also looking into nonlinear planning, an odd subsection in artificial intelligence. It’s used to create programs that partially solve problems that are contingent on solutions from other partial solved problems. The more I delve into it, the more I realize just how often this becomes a problem in people’s day-to-day planning, but virtually no one seems to talk about it with any rigor.

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My inability to plan has adversely effected my growth in all sorts of arenas. But on the whole, creating and taking my planning metric forced me to figure out basic things I had never thought about - like my average work load. Systematically progressing and strategizing like this is a weird feeling, like finishing an entire planner. And it can only get better.

How to Prevent Plateaus by “Habit Splicing”

A smooth transition between two habits maintains continuity in progression.

As I described in my last post, my pandemic reset involved too many variables and quickly failed. I successfully created a strong, basic rowing habit, but had to return my rower. Afterwards, I switched to walking to keep up the exercise behavior, which eventually just fizzled out.

The biggest issue was not having an intentional method to transition from one exercise to the next. This is a systemic problem because most skill-based habits need to change – sometimes significantly – to avoid a plateau. But, in changing, the cues and responses (the building blocks of any habit) also change.

It’s what I’ve dubbed the Habit Advancement Paradox - eventually you’ll have to sacrifice automaticity to skill advancement.

And this is why I believe that Killing Habits is as Important as Forming Them and why I think it’s useful to think in larger cycles that go beyond habits.

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I’m going to define a Lifestyle as a broad based behavior comprised of separate, often linearly changing habits. For example, an Exercise Lifestyle could be comprised of 3 months of walking, then 3 months of rowing, then 3 months of biking.

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A good lifestyle progression is an important added measure to Oetingen’s mental contrasting exercise. In mental contrasting, you contrast the good with the bad, brainstorming problems that could crop up. The problem here is how to advance and cross train a skill, which is itself a “danger zone” - a critical area in the duration of a habit where there’s a significant chance it will collapse.

The tendency is for strong habits to “drift” as new cues and responses are introduced to level up the skill. For example, switching from rowing at 3 PM to running as soon as you wake up might be a part of the same exercise lifestyle, but they’re totally different habits.

When transitioning, efficiently creating a new habit would be tedious. You’d have to slowly level up a new Tiny Habit from scratch. That’s great for habit formation, but not as efficient from the lifestyle or skill perspective. You’d be going back to very little cardio vascular growth if you transition from doing HIITs on a rower (an advanced habit) to walking around the block (the Tiny Habit for running).

UNZIPPING HABITS

A better method may come from a weird quirk of habit formation.

One reason I hate the so-called “Seinfeld Method” is that it emphasizes that daily execution is important. But according to the research, habits aren’t completely contingent on streaks – rather, habits are deep mental structures that also involve automaticity, memory, length of time, and identity. According to the researchers, missing a day after 3 consistent times didn’t significantly effect habit strength.

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The Seinfeld Method - Get a calendar, draw a big red X on every day you do a specific behavior, and don’t break the chain.

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In fact, I remember actually getting higher scores on the Self Report Habit Index (SRHI) after skipping a day every once in a while.

In Is Polymathy Even Possible?, I talk about how you can theoretically make two habits for the willpower price of one.  

The closer you get to a strong habit, the more automatic the action gets, and the less willpower you have to exert.

Conversely, the closer you are to the start date of a habit, the more willpower you’ll generally exert.

But if habits don’t necessarily have to be done every day, then why not alternate days, executing different habits on different days until they’re well established?

Across time the two behaviors would unzip, forming two habits for the willpower price of one.

PROGRESSING BETWEEN HABITS

I think reversing the process may be a way to seamlessly transition to a new habit within a lifestyle.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you have a rowing habit that you want to transition to a running habit to avoid a plateau.

And let’s say the cue for rowing is, for simplicity sake, as soon as you get up.

The rowing habit grows through the normal cycle:

1. Habit formation. A Tiny Habit of rowing for one minute after getting up becomes more automatic until it’s a fully established habit (70-84 on the SRHI).

2. Natural growth. Rowing automatically swells in time and intensity.

3. Forced growth. Natural growth falters, but by altering practice slightly (inserting other exercises like kettlebell swings or pushups in between two smaller rowing sessions, or by inserting a few HIITs per week), growth continues. The change in focus makes the additional time or intensity feel less onerous.

4. Plateau around day 90. Even forced growth ceases to deliver change and increasing intensity or time loads feels harder.

Instead of abruptly stopping on day 90 to start a running habit from scratch, I’d replace rowing every other day to build up a daily tiny habit of running off the same trigger. Essentially, I’d be splicing in a new habit.

With ludicrously tiny habits it takes about 20 or so days to get them up to the 70s in the SRHI.

I’d want to start splicing in running about 20 days before the end of my rowing cycle - so on day 70.

But those are changing responses to the same trigger (waking up). What if you needed to change triggers?

For example, if I want to transition to a yoga class, I’ll probably have to go at a specific time that’s different from my cue of rowing.

It still theoretically works - I’m just establishing new cues WHILE I’m tapering off my rowing habit. I’m still working out every other day, while efficiently ramping up a new exercise habit and conserving willpower.

It’s like relay runners exchanging a baton. To conserve speed both athletes need to be running during the exchange. If I’m right, this not only solves the Habit Advancement Paradox, but also maintains momentum in skill across a Lifestyle.

Now I just have to test it out…

How to Unlock Transitions in Long-Term Productivity

The simple repetition of solid habits isn’t enough - a lifetime of growth relies on adaptation.

Over the last few weeks my system has glitched. 

When my meditation course finished, I floundered.

I borrowed a rower, but I had to return it as soon as I developed a strong, basic habit. When I pivoted to walking, it got really hot and my habit was inconsistent. And my covid reset attempt fizzled out within a few weeks.

One thing I’ve learned in this project is that there’s always a reason for why things fail that’s more complex than “I just couldn’t do it”. And there were plenty of reasons for failure here.

Enacting all these changes at once was dicey to begin with. A global pandemic, race riots, and a very intense meditation course didn’t help either.

But more importantly, there were deeper, systemic flaws.

PLANNING FOR CHANGE

In the sci-fi show The Expanse, Joe Miller is a cynical, world hardened gumshoe who describes the dangers of walking into rooms. 

“I keep warning you. Doors and corners, kid. That’s where they get you.”

I feel that’s a good metaphor for my recent failures. 

When my rower had to be returned (like I knew that it would) I didn’t have a plan. When my meditation class ended, I didn’t know how to step back into a normal practice. And that’s consistently the biggest problem at the end of any challenge or growth cycle.

Sometimes it works on its own. When I went back to my normal writing after NaNoWriMo, I just naturally wrote more. But such natural growth all-too-often just fizzles out. 

BETTER MENTAL CONTRASTING

One way to navigate these danger zones is a more robust form of mental contrasting. 

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A technique pioneered by psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, mental contrasting uses positive AND practical projections to come up with a plan that often works better in long-term change.

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In mental contrasting you project ahead to any barriers you think you’ll have in your bourgeoning habit and figure out strategies to overcome them in advance. This usually includes alternative activities. If, say, it’s raining and you know you won’t run in bad weather, you’ve got to plan around that.

But another obvious element to include is how exactly you’re going to grow the habit. 

I didn’t formally do this for rowing at all – even though I knew the rower wasn’t going to be here for long. 

Addressing the big picture involves knowing what the next transition will be in order to level up a behavior. If I had planned to switch to another exercise habit and formalized it, I might’ve known that walking in the Texas heat would get to me.

TRANSITIONS

If cross training and pushing a habit are the “corners” in this metaphor, then life transitions are the doors. Visits, travel, the end of a job or the start of a new one - life intrudes, and when it does it disrupts the system. Suddenly cues that were automatic aren’t so strong any more.

One way to transition is to plan a break. They’re critical for rejuvenation, yet I only really take time off when I’m forced into it kicking and screaming.

Another way is to abruptly end a habit and start a new one. In a previous post (“Killing Habits is Just as Important as Forming Them”), I talk about how it’s important to set a transition point, and suggest that 3 months might be a good time to do that even if there’s no other external change.  A formal hand off to the next set of cues to crosstrain a skill-based habit is imperative. 

However, I think that there might be a better method. In THIS post, I theorize an “unzippering” method to create two habits for the willpower price of one. I think I might be able to use this theory to splice in a new habit into the ending of the old one. This would allow for a smooth transition between multiple habits within a lifestyle such as exercise.

If I had tapered off my rowing habit while on-ramping walking, maybe I’d still have a continuous workout lifestyle right now.

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All of this requires quite a bit of planning to orchestrate with any amount of continuity. That’s a skill I’m still working on.

But Detective Miller was right – Plans perish in portals and passages. 

I don’t intend mine to die quite so easily.

TAKEAWAYS

1. When planning a skill-based habit, always include the plan for the next progression

2. When mental contrasting, be on the look out for any personal transitions, whether it’s a trip, a visitor, or the ending of a class or challenge. Prep for what you’ll do right after that point.

3. Plan time off.

4. Try to smoothly transition from one habit to the next in a lifestyle.

How to Accomplish Everything With Advanced Planning

Daily bullet journaling is just the beginning…

In the original version of the legendary cooking show, Rokusaburo Michiba was Iron Chef Japan. While his opponent rushed and sweated, Chef Michiba moved with unhurried deliberation, calmly writing his menu in calligraphy at the start of each match. It appeared unthinkable that he’d make the requisite 4 dishes.

Yet no matter the pressure, he’d serenely chop and stir, always at the right place and time. When the match concluded, he had extra dishes to spare, while his opponent slumped in exhaustion (and eventually, in defeat).

That’s how I feel – rushed, overwhelmed, and ultimately defeated.

While I now have a strong daily planning habit (using the bullet journaling method), I still can’t set long term goals and execute daily tasks to reach them with any efficiency.

OUGHT VS INTEND

A big problem is that I bullet journal what I INTEND to do in a day, which is often a too optimistic reflection of what I hope to do. Anything I don’t finish gets rolled over to the next work session.

That’s normal, linear planning.

Unfortunately, with freelancing I can’t plan linearly. I need to meet rotating deadlines at different rates, and cover for punctuated times of frenetic work or bottlenecks in pitching pipelines.

I need to break goals up into what I OUGHT to do in order to reach deadlines.

One method is to work backwards. Youtuber Clark Kegley advocates writing down large goals, often divided up by quarter. He then lists out specific methods to get to those goals. 

Claire at minimal.plan suggests using a mind map to brainstorm every small thing you’ll need to accomplish those large goals. This has the added benefit of employing the Elements of Tiny Behaviors and Momentum, especially if you’re gamifying it all with checklists.

I’d add that a good scamp (free writing as many ideas for breaking down a task without regard to editing or logic) works wonders here - in fact, that’s what works well when I plan travel.

After doing a free writing session for an article, I then use a filtering system based on logical progression. For trips, it’s usually based on when things are open and my location. 

Here, I can use a system based on task priorities, then assign time estimates.

ESTIMATING TIME

Unfortunately, I’m woefully unprepared to give good estimates. Lydia suggests just guessing and then honing in on correct times once you do a task a few times. Another method is using a device like Timular or Timeflip, where you turn a dice-like contraption to track different activities. Users say the tactile nature increases adherence, which is important. I briefly attempted virtual timekeepers like Toggl and just kept forgetting to set them.

An important element I’m missing in estimating tasks is emotional weight. Tasks like pitching are incredibly draining - so including a mental technique, like the smiley face self-esteem games from McGill University that I wrote about before (which have been shown to boost optimism) is a must. Folded into task scheduling, they would prevent the day from devolving into a mental health disaster.

Mental space for decision making is also key. Decisions take energy and should not be relegated to a dusty side bin of planning when they take as much or more effort than any given task. 

I’m also missing a planned time to review goals and hone in on better time estimates.

Planning should be a living, adapting process, evolving for the next quarter instead of the one and done action it is now.

FILTERING TASKS

“Brain dumps” of goals and tasks aren’t a problem - I do that now as a part of of my current planning and it’s been incredibly helpful. 

But filters are needed to assign tasks across a day. Lydia suggests morning, afternoon, and evening assignments. She also suggests primary and secondary tasks for off times and overflow. Another method is having an A and B task based on difficulty. I’ve found that having an easier standby task to switch to greatly increases focus and efficiency.

She also breaks up tasks by days of the week. Monday, for example, could be a designated pitching day. That way you’re able to start breaking up tasks into different rates. Like a river, in freelancing some output is immediate (like social media or blogging), others are medium (magazines) and some are glacial (like proposals).

Behavioral filters are also needed. If you’re tired, creative tasks are optimal. Tasks that take more willpower, like decisions, emotionally draining tasks, and ones that require more processing power (like editing) should be filtered from ones that are lighter or automatic.

Frequent projects are best standardized as flowcharts. Emotions, willpower drains, lag times and techniques to counter these should be included as a part of the process.

PLANNING TRANSITIONS

While general lags come from task switching, there are larger blind spots that occur in mesocycles.

Whenever a 3 month project finishes or when I come back from travel, there’s usually some sort of glitch where all my systems fail. 

Planning time off is something I’m really bad at, and these are the spots where it should be incorporated. 

A PLANNING METRIC

Moving forward, I’d like to hone in on my ultimate planning process. In the tradition of this project, that involves testing out new systems like:

1. Breaking monthly or quarterly goals into minute tasks

2. Estimating task completion

3. Using tactile time trackers like Timeular or Timeflip

4. Creating a filtering system

5. Including decision making and off time in planning

6. Creating a flowchart for common tasks encompassing bottlenecks, lag times, and common emotional issues

7. Collating the data to improve the next quarter

But how do you really know it’s working?

If there’s a metric to planning, it would incorporate the capacity to execute all the tasks that you’ve laid out in a given time. It’s also achieving a lot while not getting burned out. At the same time, a good planner is able to smoothly adapt to change, not only in the moment, but as an overall process.

In short, it’s becoming an Iron Chef.

The Science of Making the Best of Your Very Worst Days

The Diary of a No Good, Very Depleted Day

Yesterday was one of THOSE days. I woke up with absolutely nothing left in the tank.

I was at the edge of just taking the day off when I thought - why not make it an experiment?

Would using all my protocols help out, even on my worst day?

So I wrote down a plan of action and decided to break out my vintage, 1800s hand grip dynamometer. In a number of studies, hand grip was shown to correlate with self control. The intro of this study has a great break down of the history of using a dynamometer to do this (and its limits).

DATA

Here’s a chart of my data, with the X axis indicating grip strength. I took measurements before and after a round of work and before and after I engaged in willpower repletion protocols.

Here are my notes:

Starting Grip Strength: 40

Round 1

• Read NaNoWriMo Pep Talk by Maurene Goo [EXEMPLAR PRIMING]

• Read list of accomplishments [EXEMPLAR PRIMING]

• Read affirmation questions [EXEMPLAR PRIMING]

Grip Strength: 70

• Drop set - 3 Pomodoros of 10 minutes, started with automatic actions [TINY BEHAVIOR, SEQUENCING]

• Mini meditations of Kawaii, Faster EFT, and Mindfulness for 1 minute breaks [KAWAII, MINDFULNESS]

Grip Strength: 65

BREAK

• Food outside [GLUCOSE]

• 7 min row, slow pace

• 7 min stretch

Grip Strength: 65

Round 2

• NanoWrimo Pep Talk by Jasmine Guilory [EXEMPLAR PRIMING]

• Smile Games [EXEMPLAR PRIMING]

Grip Strength: 71

• Drop set - 3 Pomodoros of 10 minutes

• Mini meditations of Kawaii, Faster EFT, and Mindfulness for 1 minute breaks

Grip Strength: 65

BREAK

Stepped outside for about 20 minutes

Round 3

• Smiley face game [EXEMPLAR PRIMING]

• Affirmation questions [EXEMPLAR PRIMING]

Grip strength: 80

• 4 Pomodoros of 10 minutes

• No breaks

Grip Strength: 50

WHAT WORKED

Creating an initial system using Curiosity (“could I replete willpower when starting with nothing?) and Metrics (the grip strength measurements) to test out Elements was the first strategy that worked well. It created a distancing effect that kept me from experiencing the exhaustion as much. It’s a technique similar to mindfulness, which has been shown to help with cravings and engage self control (here’s a video of Dr. Judson Brewer describing how mindfulness has been proven in clinical trials to break the addiction cycle).

I noticed that my exemplar priming exercises all really helped out quite a bit to boost self control, and this was reflected on the grip strength tests. It was also further evidence that exemplar priming works better for me when I’m depleted.

NaNoWriMo has an easily accessible list of pep talks that I could just randomly click on. Question based affirmations can work even better than statements according to one study, and they especially tend to work well to boost me in particular. And surprisingly, the McGill University smiley face game which I previously wrote about also actually works really well - though in this case I used a similar mobile app called Upbeat Mind.

I found myself gaining energy across the day, an effect I attribute to Momentum – gaining a series of wins.

I used a shotgun approach of meditation techniques for small breaks - mindfulness, cute pics of animals (listed as Kawaii in the Elements), and faster EFT, which seems to work really well for me (I still don’t quite know why it works).

You can read more about “microdosing on meditation” in a previous post.

I tried to incorporate movement for larger breaks. My rowing and stretching habits are both triggered after my first round of work, so this was naturally built in. My rowing habit is also still in its early stages, so it is not hard enough to exhaust me yet. I also tried to incorporate sunlight by standing on my balcony. It’s not quite Forest Bathing or going on a walk, but it felt like a similar, smaller version.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK

I got cocky towards the end. My grip strength increased significant later in the day, and I just kept blowing past all my planned breaks and continued on to do a full Pomodoro load instead of a smaller set. This caused me to become utterly depleted. My grip strength dropped by 30 points and I definitely felt it.

WHAT I CAN DO BETTER

There are definitely things I neglected to do. I didn’t drink my concoction of apple cider vinegar and matcha after lunch. I could’ve taken a walk, or even looked at pics of green landscapes. I could’ve done a gratitude exercise, or shifted to more creative, automated tasks when I saw my willpower was lower.

But the key problem was not having everything clearly planned out. When you get depleted, making decisions and trying to come up with new measures on the fly is almost impossible – you have to have it all pre-written to prevent decision fatigue.

CONCLUSIONS

In term of work output, this doesn’t seem like much. But when you factor in that this is Cal Newport-style “Deep Work” - no distractions, no emails, no social media, absolute concentration, then this is, for me, quite substantial. I didn’t include the work and exercises for my relatively intense meditation course or several errands. Nonetheless, if I had time, I would have definitely kept going.

Does hand grip strength accurately measure willpower? The science seems inconclusive, and there’s a lot of debate as to willpower in general. There are also many variations as to how studies conduct testing in order to negate natural strength. In my own testing I just took readings after keeping it squeezed for a few seconds without much effort and without psyching myself up. I also did not attempt to “spike” the measurement - I just wanted even, steady force.

However, this accurately correlated to my subjective experience of how depleted I was. And it’s something I really want to use for future measurements, though perhaps with the more updated versions of the hand dynamometer. I believe that it could be used to formulate a mathematical equation for productivity. I also think it could help test what repletion exercises have the most impact. It would be nice, for example, to know that exemplar priming tasks have more bang for the buck than looking at green landscapes, even if it only applies to me.

All of this seems further proof that engaging some sort of willpower muscle isn’t fully necessary for productivity. This was a clear case where the entire system “carried” me throughout the day. That was profound, because I realized that starting willpower - that feeling of mental focus at the beginning of the day - isn’t as important as it once was to me.

This is further evidence of a possible “Polymathic Engine” - a system that delivers massive amounts of self change using very little willpower.

A Peek at a Course Promising Enlightenment

The Finder’s Course has a 60-70% enlightenment rate. I’m on day 19.

It all started 5 years ago when I saw an ad for a course on meditation. It drew me in with its use of psychological, secular terminology and scientific rigor. Important sounding research institutions were mentioned and it claimed to be one of the first, large scale, studies on enlightenment. But there was something in the too-slick advertising that immediately turned me off. It felt like a get rich quick scam selling spirituality, and I quickly rolled my eyes and moved on.

Years later, I caught an in-depth interview with the course founder, Dr. Jeffery Martin, on Buddha at the Gas Pump, a podcast that has “Conversations with ‘ordinary’ spiritually awakening people”. There, Martin discussed the history of his methodology. He was initially a skeptic, but after interviewing over a thousand people from different cultural and religious backgrounds who claimed some form of this persistent mental shift, his view changed. He put people through a battery of physiological and psychological tests to categorize and study the phenomenon. As the data flowed in he began to view it as an actual thing.

SKEPTIC

This paralleled my own trajectory with meditation. I grew up on Indian tales of magical yogis, and later studied Eastern philosophy and religion. Although I was fascinated with the subject, the practice itself never really stuck, and I never bought the grandiose claims. And the idea of an end to the contemplative journey didn’t even make sense until a few years ago, around when I first saw the Finder’s Course ad. 

At the time I was getting into Stoicism, cognitive behavioral therapy, and other more acceptable, less “hippy sounding” schools of mental development. But I soon started consuming books and podcasts on “hardcore,” “secular,’ or “pragmatic” dharma - writers like Daniel Ingram, Sam Harris of the Waking Up app, Sharon Salzberg, Stephen Batchelor (author of Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist), Shinzen Young (author of The Science of Enlightenment), Culadasa, and, most popularly, Dan Harris, author of the NYT Best Selling book, 10 Percent Happier and Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. 

In one form or another they described a practice that was non-religious, practical, and had a great love of both skepticism and science. When I dipped my toes in and genuinely tried the practices, they worked for me. With a bit of trust built up, I noticed many of them were talking about more than just mental strategies applied to individual moments. They also hinted at a permanent mental shift that could occur. Up until then I viewed such claims as pure fantasy. 

This all begs the question - what exactly is this psychological transformation?

AWAKENING

Stripping away the dogma and poetry, the way Martin and others like him describe it is as a persistent state where the primacy of the ego/narrative self/personality is dramatically reduced/shifted. Rather than viewing the world through the lens of the ego, the ego is simply one of many elements in broadened awareness. 

Imagine yourself in a dream - there’s you, acting and moving around and other characters you interact with.

You’re in school, you have to give a presentation, you’re unprepared, and the teacher is angry.

When you wake up you’ll describe the dream - “I was in school again, and I was nervous because I wasn’t prepared, and then teacher started yelling.”

But that’s not true, is it? You were the teacher. You were the class. You were even the dream itself. But yet, we automatically view the world from the perspective of our self, even when recounting a dream. 

This shift can occur when people clearly observe the narrative self vanishing, then reappearing, while maintaining complete awareness.

This tends to trigger a series of massive psychological changes, which makes a lot of sense. Suddenly you know that everything you associated with your self isn’t all there is to “you” (pronouns get really hard at this point).

Basic forms of meditation focus on understanding that thoughts and emotions are like clouds passing by and aren’t essentially YOU - You aren’t angry, anger is only visiting you for a moment. This also applies to mental images, memories, hopes, desires, even the voice in your head.

Your narrative, ego-centric self is another thought passing through the sky of awareness. If you aren’t the only fixture, then all of your hangups become fundamentally less substantial.

The result of this shift is a larger way of viewing the world - one that removes a great deal of suffering.

Imagine giving advice to a friend - that friend might be in agony, but you have a greater capacity to view his situation with rationality and calmness. But when similar circumstances occur to you, that equanimity flies out the window. 

This persistent, non-ego driven view has different names throughout cultures and mystic traditions: the peace that passeth understanding, ego dissolution, non duality, unitive experience…And while it can also come through happenstance or intense drug trips, it’s usually experienced through some form of lengthy and rigorous mental exercise.

WHAT WORKS

The biggest issue Martin encountered in his research was “The Fit Problem”.

People didn’t necessarily practice the type of mental exercises that worked best for them. Back in the day, the guru down the street may have gotten enlightened with one method - but that didn’t necessarily mean it would work for you. Yet disciples would practice that one method for decades, either because they didn’t have any other recourse (another guru) or simply because the guru was so sure it would work.

The Fit Problem also answers a tangential issue - why does this have to take so long? The assumption is that such a spiritual and cognitive leap can only occur after a lifetime of practice - even though some people appear to stumble upon it in an instant. A large portion of the class focuses on honing in on the right technique for individuals.  

After listening to the interview I started reading everything I could on the course - which had a lot of behavioral and accelerated learning elements embedded into it that particularly appealed to me. Unfortunately, it was very expensive, intense, and long (4 months). But due to the pandemic, Martin released a 45 day version. It wasn’t the full protocol, and according to him the rates of success are a lowered 60%. Stuck in quarantine, I figured, why not?

I’m now about halfway through.

THE COURSE

In my own research and testing, cross training is one of the best methods to significantly increase learning and skill development. The Finder’s Course does this in a big way. We are directed to intensely practice specific “Gold Standard” meditations - ones that kept floating to the top when test subjects described what caused their psychological shift. I’ve practiced techniques I never thought would work. To say they have had a powerful effect on me is to put it mildly. The other day I started meditating in a chair and ended up on my back after continually losing track of my identity and passing out, not quite remembering how I got to the floor.

In addition, there are morning and nightly practices of visualization, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion. There are continual exercises, very similar to my tally clicking experiments. And there’s a once a week group meditation that is far and away the best practice I’ve ever read or heard of.

There are also one-off exercises that I find immensely informative. I’ve written out my life story and a eulogy of my own death. Both are exercises I initially thought quite silly, but were surprisingly powerful when done formally.

The extensive goal setting was also unexpected. As someone who is really into the behavioral science of habits and sticking to things, this was particularly important to me. 

Martin knows his stuff.

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If I were to describe the course thus far in one word? 

Surprising. 

I’m trying and doing things I never would have. The course has significantly exceeded my hopes and expectations. And although I remain a skeptic as to the overarching lofty course goal, I would gladly pay for this course again – and highly recommend it – as a method to stretch a meditation habit and launch it into overdrive.

How to Extend Deep Work: The Science of Sustained Focus

Cal Newport’s concept of Deep Work focuses the work day, but it doesn’t help me extend it.

Before reading Cal Newport’s amazing book, Deep Work, I just tried to work as much as possible. As a freelancer, that had many downsides: I didn’t get much done, and work would bleed into my off time. I felt like I was working 24/7 without any real understanding of efficiency.

Deep Work made me confront how I actually used my time. In it, Newport suggests that most of our “working” isn’t really focused. Instead we’re multitasking, and according to the neuroscience, multitasking well is largely a myth. We tend to badly switch back and forth between important tasks that need concentration and small distractions. And in today’s smartphone-filled world, the constant social media beeps and buzzes exacerbate the problem.

His solution is to learn how to formally focus. He advises turning off cell phones and blocking distracting websites. He even advocates short spurts and writing down what you’ll do TO THE MINUTE. The result is serious, efficient concentration. 

I applied Newport’s theories by creating a deep work ritual. I used Pomodoros, blocked Facebook and Reddit, played non-distracting music, and wrote my times to the minute. And he is right - I’m laser focused, and I get more done.

The problem is that after about an hour and a half I’m exhausted.

[SKIP TO THE END FOR THE SHORT VERSION]

CREATING A SYSTEM

Newport suggests (deep) working up to 4 hours a day. There are days I’ll dig deep and extend it to 3 hours - but those are standouts. A good system works on its worst days. Was there a way to automatically lengthen out Deep Work?

To start, I noticed there were times where it just naturally happened.

The standard Pomodoro protocol on the app I use (Tomighty) is four sets of 25 minutes, separated by 5 minute mini breaks, followed by a larger 20 minute break. However, when I wrote 50,000 words in 5 days for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) I quickly found that 13 minutes was more optimal - it was the average time my concentration for free writing broke (as opposed to this awesome research on optimal sets using an analysis of 5.5 million users). Later, when I lowered my normal work load to 10 minute sets, I felt (and still feel) my focus is stronger. But I’m also able to automatically do more repetitions.

As with my sleep study, which forced me to create a better sleep index, there were just too many variables. So I came up with a general metric for good work. It combined 4 elements:

1. Time to start

2. Focus in session

3. The number of Deep Work sets

4. Overall energy/torpor

TIME TO START

The biggest issue was wasting time actually getting started. I tried to solve this by tying the habit of writing to starting the Pomodoro timer rather than the act of writing itself. This hones in on the specific if-then protocol – and often that’s just a matter of starting as quickly as possible. And the science suggests that this “jumping in” method helps bypass procrastination (check out this article on the neuroscience of the 5 Second Rule).

I also attempted an implementation intention for starting work every day (both of the day and the night before) – but that required first forming a planning habit where I broke tasks down into small parts. I tried starting with a a throwaway set – an easy task to ease into writing. I also tried a task priming exercise - usually reading an author pep talk from NaNoWriMo. A lot of tiny actions - like the task priming Smiley Face Game I wrote about before - seemed to somehow smooth the transition between a break and getting back to work. 

The key to all this wasn’t just what I did to get started, but what I did in between sets of work. So I started experimenting with small and large breaks.

OPTIMIZING BREAKS

I began meditating between writing sprints in order to introduce an emotional pattern break to prevent quickly getting worn out (mood changes have been shown to restore self-regulation). In my article on mIcrodosing on meditation, I discuss some of the one minute meditations I do - but I’ve also included other emotional changes, like looking at pics of cute kittens or green landscapes, both shown to boost productivity.

The Pomodoro Technique also includes larger breaks - but what do you do during them? Previously I’d just wander off and be pretty lax about coming back.

Forest bathing and walking have both been shown to recharge the mind, but are a bit time consuming. While I do try to incorporate walks, I want to try rebounding - bouncing on a mini trampoline. As weird as it sounds (and the iffiness of the studies - some believe it “recharges” all the cells in the body), I think it might introduce an energizing emotional change. Any sort of acceleration has a thrilling, charging effect on me – think rollercoasters and go karting.

But the biggest change to my schedule was taking breaks BEFORE I felt tired. I started mandating a break after 40 minutes instead of just going with the flow or going until I felt tired. Seems obvious, but it significantly extended my number of Deep Work sets.

A part from individual sessions, I discovered that what I did across time also had an effect on work.

DOWNSHIFTING

I recently wrote about tasks that are actually optimized during periods of low willpower. One study found that people are more creative when they’re tired. So any tasks that require decision making or discernment (like editing) are best placed at the beginning of my work day. Creative endeavors like brainstorming ideas, automatic tasks, or writing that benefit from less willpower (like first drafts) are placed later in the day. A well developed planning habit that maps this all out significantly helps, or you end up getting pretty bogged down.

As the day progresses and I get more willpower-depleted, the strategies I use to perk back up change as well. Not only are some tasks optimized for low willpower, but exercises that involve exemplar priming seem to work better when you’re depleted to fuel focus.

Progression through the day in regards to energy levels was also important.

ENERGY PROGRESSION

In an excellent article, the Harvard Business Review describes how managing energy is even more important than managing time. The biggest energy slump happens after lunch. One counter is altering the meal itself. I tried just having a light meal. In addition, I tried making a concoction with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, which a few (admittedly small) studies show improves insulin sensitivity. I also use matcha in it, which offers a smooth background caffeine buzz that avoids the crashes of coffee. In fact, in one article, the author found that simply doing a quick 30 seconds of exercise as a break offered an even better energy boost than coffee.

Getting adequate light, beauty and even the color of your work space also seem to boost productivity in a general way like getting a good night of sleep.

—

There’s a default tendency to view all of this as a matter character. In reality, there are a slew of contributing variables. Testing and retesting combinations automatically resulted in different outcomes. And it was often what I changed well before a bout of laziness that led to more optimal and sustained productivity. The system parameters herded and supported a better work day – no digging deep required.

At the end of all of this my average deep work sessions almost tripled.

And I haven’t even started bouncing yet…

—

MY IDEAL WORK DAY

1. Cultivate your work space. Make it beautiful and filled with light. Paint it a high saturated color - ideally blue for productivity (or just use a computer background).

2. Get a good night’s sleep. For me, that means getting to bed earlier, not drinking too much, avoiding caffeine at night, eating well, and rigorously paying attention to light. I have blue light blockers on my computer (F.lux) and phone, and try to get light at the beginning of the day (there’s a study that shows it helps with sleep - in my sleep test, it significantly correlated with helping me drift off faster).

3. Wake up and plan out the work day. I try to do this in sunlight with a cup of coffee (black to avoid a sugar crash). I like using the bullet journaling method because it’s easy and simple. I break down tasks into categories - ones that are urgent, ones that require more self control (like editing) and ones that require less (creative or automatic tasks).

4. Immediately start my Pomodoro timer. I use Tomighty, and set 4, 10 minute intervals with 1 minute breaks. I make sure to have the ticking going in the background because it’s an added reminder of the passage of time.

5. Set up a Deep Work session. I set my phone to airplane mode, use an app (SelfControl) to block Facebook and Reddit, and start a Spotify playlist that helps block out distractions yet isn’t too distracting in itself - I usually use the one aptly called “Deep Focus”.

6. Lubricate starting work. Do a quick throwaway work set (like a morning page) or read an exemplar prime (like a NaNoWriMo pep talk).

7. Take small breaks. For my short, one minute breaks, I cycle through a series of micro meditations during my one minute breaks - mindfulness, compassion, tantric visualizations - types that will shift my emotions in some way. Sometimes I also look at cute animal pics or videos (www.reddit.com/r/aww), affirmations, list of accomplishments I’m proud of, or gratitude statements. I sometimes watch short motivational videos or look at pictures of forests.

8. Take longer breaks. After 4 sets I’ll take a longer break. I try to get out into the sun and incorporate some minimum amount of movement. If you have time, walk around the block. If you can, walk in a forested area.

9. Harness movement and momentum. There’s a weird focus boosting effect I get when switching locations. Sometimes I’ll work at my gym before or after working out. Sometimes I’ll go to a coffee shop or a library.

10. Mind the afternoon slump. Pay attention to your blood sugar. Eat a light lunch or one that affects your blood sugar the least. Drink a concoction of matcha and apple cider vinegar. Stop drinking coffee in the afternoon. Incorporate short, 30 second workout sessions.

11. Shift into low willpower strategies. In the afternoon (or when you feel more depleted, whichever comes first) start easing back into work after longer breaks by playing the ego associative smiley face games (here’s a similar phone app called Upbeat Mind), or reading an exemplar prime, or pretend you’re Batman. Shift into automatic and creative tasks. And boost creativity by switching your screen background to highly saturated yellow.

12. Turn off. When you’re done, be completely done. Cal Newport advocates a shut down ritual which includes reviewing completed tasks, reviewing his future plans, and uttering a phrase to set his mind to the off mode.

Some things I have not tested (but are on my list): Essential oils/aromatherapy, the effect of different types of music or binaural beats, cold showers, rebounding, and nootropics.

6 Scientific Strategies for Effortless Habits

Lydia’s crossfit gym let us borrow an indoor rower while they’re closed.  Since my exercise habit has basically imploded, I thought I’d use this opportunity to establish a rowing habit for the duration of the quarantine. 

For this post, I’m going to outline the science and strategy behind forming a basic habit - one I define as an action done once at the same time every day. I had a rock solid rowing habit that lasted for 3 years (until we moved), so I’ve had a lot of time to figure out how to practically implement this with the minimum amount of effort. 

THE STRATEGY

1. Form a ludicrously small habit. Instead of rowing for 30 minutes, focus on something so ridiculously small you’re more likely to do it on your worst days. For me, that’s 5 minutes, and I have no compunction about dropping it down to 1 minute if need be. Behavioral scientist BJ Fogg’s method of making habits small has a lot of backing - and it makes sense.  Lowering the “habit load” will help you focus on the automatic trigger-response and mentally make getting started easier.

2. Form a clear trigger. “When [X] happens I will do [MY HABIT]”. Remember that the clearer, more precise, and temporally connected the two are, the more efficiently the habit will form. DO NOT use sloppy triggers like “sometime in the morning I will go for a run”.  This technique is called an implementation intention and you can check out Dr. Peter Gollwitzer’s research linked in this Wiki article.

3. Perform a mental contrasting exercise. Positivity isn’t enough, and can sometimes blind you to the issues involved in forming a habit. This exercise uncovers the complex emotional entanglements that often underpin the act of change. It also draws out potential stumbling blocks and forces you to plan how to get around them. Check out psychologist Gabrielle Ottingen’s research on it here.

4. Strategize growth. Resist the urge to go all out at first. Stretch out the energy you have on, say, day 5, and instead stick to just keeping it a tiny behavior. Once the habit is established (take the Self Report Habit Index to make sure) then you can start to grow it. At first, it will grow naturally without pushing it. But then you’ll inevitably hit a plateau.
   
   To get through the plateau, modulate practice. If you’re doing cardio at a gym, I find the best way is to drop your time, and cycle between different cardio equipment. I found that plateaus aren’t necessarily about your own endurance, but more about focus. We just get bored. Directly forcing your way through it drains massive amounts of willpower, and modulating practice like this can result in easier progress.
   
   Once I hit my natural growth plateau for rowing, I’m going to try including some kettlebell rows or HIITs to shake things up.

5. Record your habit on a spreadsheet. I know, it sounds like a painful extraneous step, but there’s a lot of behavioral science to this. Keeping clear metrics is a principle used in everything from biofeedback, food diaries, and gamification to FitBit-style wearable trackers and the quantified self movement. If you know what you’re doing each day, you’re likely to automatically try to beat your score. 

   
   In most cases, the “score” would be the surface level metric - like how many meters I’ve rowed. But we’re not going to track that at first. Instead, we’re going to use the SRHI (The Verplanken-Orbell Self Report Habit Index - the questionnaire should be at the bottom of the .pdf) - a sliding scale metric of how strong a habit actually is. You can track it however often you want just to gauge how far along your habit is, and to know when to add more to it. I’m pretty anal retentive and tend to take it every day so I can make a pretty graph at the end.
   
   I tend to drop habits when I forget them, or when I’m generally (and inevitably) interrupted by life. Recording adds an extra layer of accountability that is the best method for remembering to pick up the habit again before it completely dies.

6. Kill your habits. After about 3 months, plateaus really start to take root. And if you’re trying to do another exercise - like running or taking a class - you’re really shaking up the triggers or the preplanning. Your class might be at a different time, or you might have to plan on how to deal with rain if you’re switching to running outside. This “habit drift” is natural when skills grow, but they wreck havoc on automaticity. It’s just better to restart another habit, and do all the preplanning for the new one.

Hopefully after 3 months the quarantine will be over. That might just be the best time to switch things up, get out, and try something new – maybe even around people!

TIPS

• Don’t worry about a few missed days. A habit is about a collection of instances, and in the studies, one day didn’t really seem to make much of a difference. Just continue to record it as a miss, pick it up the next day, and try to avoid missing long streaks.

• Actually write down the mental contrasting and implementation intention exercises. I write them on my blog, but you can easily jot them down wherever you record your habits.

• Do one habit at a time. The more habits you try to form, the less likely you’ll actually accomplish any of them. You might have the energy to do 5 things at once today, but will you have that same energy in 3 weeks? The stats say no.

• Take time off. I drop all my regular habits on weekends. There’s a lot of research that shows that regular time off has innumerable benefits. For a great read on this, check out Katrina Onstad’s book, The Weekend Effect.

• Go with the flow. Every aspect of this plan rests on system architecture rather than personal struggle. If done right, this will be the easiest habit you’ve ever made. Let the system do its work

BONUS MATERIAL

• Recording. Here’s the format I use for my spreadsheet:

• Implementation Intention:
  After I finish one writing Pomodoros, I’ll immediately row for 5 minutes

• Natural and Forced Growth Progressions:
  I want to start this as ludicrously small as possible. I think 5 minutes will be fine, but I’ll drop it to even smaller if it even begins to feel arduous.
  
  After my natural growth cycle plateaus, I’ll shave off 5 minutes from my rowing, hop off and do some alternative rows with kettlebells, then hop back on and do some additional rowing. I’ll also change things up by introducing HIITs twice a week.
  
  At 3 months I will kill it off and reestablish it as another exercise habit. This will depend how the quarantine goes, but I have options like walking or going to a gym, or even bodyweight training from an online course.

• Mental Contrastion:
  1) Positive Aspects
  I see this as a great way to get back into exercise, especially with the quarantine going on. I have a rower, might as well use it. I think it will also get me more energized and provide a welcome break from my extended writing work sets.
  
  2) Obstacles
  I see almost nothing wrong with this. I think that I might get sore, or pull a muscle, but I hope to chain this habit with a mobilizing habit which should mitigate things.

• Here’s the chart of my previous rowing habit.

There’s a few things to note here. First, you can see the curve is really steep at first, and that was even with missing a few days. At this time I was including missing weekends, which didn’t really affect the habit either. By day 22 the scale had gotten to the 70s, indicating a formed habit. A little before this time is when I’d shoot to start naturally growing my habit, resisting the urge to do it before it’s fully established.