(2013-01-14) Newport Daily Sidegig Requirement Fails

Cal Newport notes how setting a daily-requirement (Habit?) Game Rule for a side-project (like Writing, if you're not a full-time Writer) is a self-defeating process. Here’s what happens when you resolve to write every day: you soon slip up. If you’re not a full-time writer, this is essentially unavoidable... This slip-up, however, has big consequences. It provides evidence to your brain that your plan to write every day will not succeed. As I’ve argued before, the human brain is driven, in large part, by its need to assess plans: providing Motivation to act on good plans, and reducing motivation (which we experience as Procrastination) to act on flawed plans. The problem for the would-be writer is that the brain does not necessarily distinguish between your vague and abstract goal, to write a novel, and the accompanying specific plan, to write every day, which you’re using to accomplish this goal... To leverage the psychology of your brain, you need to instead choose clear goals that you clearly know how to accomplish, and then approach scheduling with flexibility. Be aggressive, but remain grounded in the reality of your schedule.