Willpower is for losers
Modify your environment instead
Hi there,
A prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. (Amen)
Five things to share:
I sleep better when I put my phone to bed before I put myself to bed. I sleep even better when I read a book before bed. Yet, every night, I somehow find my phone in hand as I get in bed; and I sheepishly glance at the book I have been meaning to read. I tell myself, tomorrow I will surely have the willpower to choose the book instead: Tomorrow never comes. Bad habits win over good intentions. Bluebeard's Egg remains unread and it is due at the library in three days. I lose, because Willpower is for losers.
Inspired by Willpower is for losers, or why a Kitchen Safe (Time Locked Box) is more effective than willpower.
A quote I want to share with you:
Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.
— Nadia Boulanger
What are you denying yourself by not paying attention?
You ever consider maybe your phone needs a bed too? Haley Goldberg did: I Made a 'Bed' for My Phone, and I've Never Slept Better. Goldberg’s DIY phone bed is practically free but if you have $65 to spare, yes you can buy an actual Phone Bed that also doubles as a charging station. It is good to be alive and see it all.
A question for you: Can your bedtime routine use some unplugging?
That’s all for this week!
Thank you for reading, and please share with anyone you think may benefit.
Until next time,
Mehret
Hey :)
Huge fan of your blog for a good while now! Struggling with similar problems. In regard to the bad habits discussion:
1) In one of your last posts you talked about the hair tie around the phone. This helped me a lot in two ways: I try to perceive and almost visualize it as a "protection barrier" against the phone. And when i then use my phone, i put the, intentionally very thick, hair tie around my wrist, as a reminder. Especially the reminder part helped me a lot to put it back on and to consciously use my phone
2) I agree that changing the environment is more important than to use sheer willpower all the time. 100%. But: it is also important to remind oneself again and again that we have agency in all of this and the phone doesn't control us. We are not passive and we can choose with willpower to do something, for example to change the environment. So the quesiton is not environment vs willpower, but how those two can work together in my opinion :)