Everyday Systems

Georges Sen-Gupta

Am preparing for another 21-day programme in April.

Georges Sen-Gupta

March 5-8 - 0 units alcohol. It is becoming less necessary to check in & report that I have done what I said I would do. I can pretty much do the small daily habits without cost to my will-power. The focus now is to take action on the larger, more challenging goals of writing and learning the tango....

Georges Sen-Gupta

Day 4 0 units alcohol. Non-drinking going OK. I am beginning to think about it not in terms of how much alcohol consumed, but about how much did I cope with without drinking? How many times did I get through periods of emotional distress without it? I suppose the goal is for alcohol to no longer eve...

Georges Sen-Gupta

0 Units alcohol. Non-drinking, eating wisely, exercising and studying writing are going well. The challenge is around more avoidant behaviours, like passively watching the TV and avoiding social situations. I think there is something about having less challenging target, a wider range of ways of ach...

Georges Sen-Gupta

No booze, lots of exercise, studying writing, eating wisely. Still difficult to avoid passive watching of TV, even though no booze & exercising whilst doing it. Would be better to get out & put myself in social situations.

Georges Sen-Gupta

The February behaviour experiment went very well. I was very encouraged that the avoiding alcohol was easier than I thought. I think a key part of that was not having isolated, anxious unstructured time that I had to fill, which always meant TV and alcohol. I am confident that I will be able to avoi...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Completed 21-day non-drinking with 100% success.

Georges Sen-Gupta

Iâ€™ll be closing the Feb experiment strand in the next day or so, after the last day and a bit of a review. Iâ€™ll be starting the march experiment strand, with a few days preparation, so that I start in march well-prepared and hopeful of achieving what I want. Getting up early is not really gettin...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Day 20/21 of the behaviour experiment. Today has not been a good day. I have been too constantly angry and stressed all day. I didnâ€™t do any tango or exercise. However, avoided alcohol, ate wisely at work. It was too cold to go out of the flat - I didnâ€™t have enough energy. I didnâ€™t avoid watc...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Staying up until 2 or 3 am reading is scuppering my plans to get out of bed early. I will think about altering this goal for March - that is, what do I count as partial success, and what actions are more likely to lead to actual success.
Two days non-drinking to go!

Georges Sen-Gupta

0 units alcohol on Feb 19. 2 days to go. Doing forum posts does make persevering with disciplined effort easier. I have been using HabitCal to record my goal-directed actions. I feel good when I look at the 19 days non-drinking, less good when I look at the record for doing the tango and writing my ...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Thanks Berry & Hanna

Georges Sen-Gupta

18 Days no alcohol - confident I can reach 21 days target.

Georges Sen-Gupta

0 units Weds Feb 13.

I am looking after my son, which makes it difficult to do the more challenging tasks or to make journal entries.

Georges Sen-Gupta

Feb 11: Not really a good day. I expected to get more done, not being at work, but was too feverish in the morning to be really focussed and active. I avoided alcohol, and did a tiny amount of exercise - not enough to be even a partial success. My son is with me, which makes it difficult to work on ...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Feb 11 Mon Still cold- now snowing. Very feverish. Up at 10:00 despite repeated alarms from 7:00 onwards. There is something about perseverence - that is, continuing to take action on desired goal despite sub-optimal willpower conditions. There is something about recognising sub-optimal will-power c...

Georges Sen-Gupta

I have a hunch that recording partial success is useful, which I havenâ€™t completely worked out yet. probably during the period between starting to take action to establish a habit and the habit becoming established, especially if the behaviour is challenging and drains willpower. I suppose it depe...

Georges Sen-Gupta

I am using the yellow 'Exempt' code on HabitCal to mean 'partially achieved'. For example, doing 15 minutes exercise is useful to raise energy and stop being sedentary, but it is not enough to be 'goal achieved for today.'

Georges Sen-Gupta

Still feverish - asleep until 10:30 am. Slightly weak. Will be glad when this cold weather is over. Have tango this afternoon, so the idea is to thoroughly prepare for that: hydration, paracetemol, some food, wash, stretching and study tango DVD, gentle exercise to raise energy levels and address de...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Too feverish to do more exercise or avoid TV. No alcohol

Georges Sen-Gupta

40 mins exercise done. Might do 20 mins more this evening.

Georges Sen-Gupta

Saturday 16:25. An extremely difficult day. Very angry and isolated, very high levels of physical discomfort and negative feelings. Managing not to drink, which is good. Can't even read. Tried watching the rugby on TV, but does not engage my interest.

Georges Sen-Gupta

Not a great day. Full of illness and rage. However, I managed to get up early, do tango and avoid alcohol, which are two main things and one subsidiary thing. I avoided TV, which is subsidiary. I didnâ€™t work on the novel apart from background reading but there wasnâ€™t time. Perhaps the goal durin...

Georges Sen-Gupta

No alcohol feb 7th.

I am not doing too badly with doing what I said I would. I am flu-ey and run down. The non-drinking is a key thing, and thatâ€™s going very well. I have tango tonight, which is OK, although I am not full of energy. I am not getting any work done on the novel, apart from reading.

Georges Sen-Gupta

Tango, no booze, no exercise or novel. Run down and tired + waiting for cold weather to end.

Georges Sen-Gupta

Feb 6. Things are going OK. Up at 8:00, rather than 7:00, but moderately productive day + reasonably sensible eating at work, no alcohol, several hours tango, no slumping in front of the TV. However, no significant work on the novel. I suppose I could put the tango down as exercise-part-success, alt...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Well, day 5 was not a terrible day, even if it didnâ€™t feel great. In work early, productive day at work. Worked all evening on the novel, and no alcohol. No tango or exercise, though, and worked with the TV on. My son is coming to stay next monday, so I want to get everything ready for that - flat...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Thanks HoeHannah - Keep going. I think the Everyday Systems emphasis on conserving willpower is really useful. I use a step machine for exercise. One technique I use when watching TV (etc) is to repeat 1 minute stepping + 1 minute resting. Itâ€™s very good if getting started is a problem, because 1 ...

Georges Sen-Gupta

18:00 Difficult time of day. There is always a slump of mood and energy from around 3:30 pm to around 7pm. Part of the intention is to become more resilient during this period, when little productive work can be done. I have been in the habit of slumping in front of the TV with whiskey at this time,...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Not a bad day. In work early to catch up with work after last week. Did not eat too badly. Did not get sucked into watching TV. No Tango or exercise, but lots of work on the novel. 0 units alcohol.

Georges Sen-Gupta

Feb 3. 21:30 Did well today. Apart from getting up at 8:00 rather than 7:00, I did everything I said I would - I did tango, didnâ€™t drink, worked on the novel and walked for 90 minutes across town. I have been eating comfort food over the weekend, and will switch to a more disciplined diet for the ...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Having spent years fiddling and procrastinating and trying and failing, I now have a mountain of interesting research. Now that my mind and energy is a bit clearer, it is a fascinating place to spend time. I chose everything in it on the grounds that they were interesting, so perhaps thatâ€™s not su...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Getting started at 8:00 am, which is good. Avoiding the booze makes the mornings easier - more energy, clearer mind, better mood, easier to be motivated to do what I said I would do. Ideally, a good outcome from the behaviour experiment would be that I find I have more willpower than I thought I did...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Hi HoeHanna

Thanks for reading my posts. There are no writing stats at the moment. At the moment, the aim is just to increase the regularity and volume of writing, not count it.

Georges Sen-Gupta

I havenâ€™t done that well today, although there are several things that are going well. I read too late into last night, and rose later than intended - I didnâ€™t set the alarm. I know that the initial period of non-drinking is often associated with disrupted sleep. I avoided alcohol without any st...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Today (feb 1) was day 1 of my 21-day behaviour experiment. It has been a partial success, in that I consistently did things I said I would do, but didnâ€™t take action on the larger, more challenging activities. I got up at 7:00 and sent the e-mail to my collaborator that I said I would. I ate sensi...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Long-standing depression is often maintained by a narrow range of avoidant behaviours that work against achieving pleasure and real satisfaction in life. Iâ€™m trying a 21-day habit development behaviour experiment to not do the avoidant behaviours, such as alcohol, withdrawing socially and watching...

Georges Sen-Gupta

I think this has the right approach.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/20 ... 00-pounds/

Also good on dealing with temptation

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... lging.html

Georges Sen-Gupta

I have one of these - http://www.lumie.com/shop/categories/dawn-simulators. The idea is that increasing light levels affect your endorphins, which is why you wake up so early if you sleep outside. The period of grogginess and irritability after getting up is much shorter.

Georges Sen-Gupta

Write or Die http://writeordie.com is an anti-writers block, anti-procrastination app from Dr Wicked (AKA Jeff Printy), which I think is excellent. I have copied his rationale below - I think he is very good on why goals that take time don't motivate by themselves, no matter how desirable the ultim...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Thanks Eschano - that might work!

Georges Sen-Gupta

I had an unexpected experience with a reminder bracelet. I am thinking about using physical cues as reminders and reinforcements to develop the good habits I want, including a bracelet. I had already one, so I didnâ€™t have to get a bracelet specially. It has plastic 15 coloured beads in a rainbow a...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Practicing writing (or other anxiety producing activity): 22nd July 2012 This is either a Behavioural Experiment or a habit forming technique - depending on how well it works. The idea is to reduce the anxiety associated with the writing task, so that it is less than the coping resources. In practic...

Georges Sen-Gupta

"Most of us serve our ideals by fits and starts. The person who makes a success of living is one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That's dedication. " - Cecil B. DeMille BTW I have just found out that Bevis and Butt-Head sang 'I Go You, Babe' as a duet with Cher. *Happy sigh*...

Georges Sen-Gupta

I think that I am pretty much there with the daily exercise. I lay out my kit the night before, and look forward to doing it; I enjoy it and feel energised afterwards (mostly); Itâ€™s something I do to avoid writing and distract myself from the discomfort of procrastination. Granted, I havenâ€™t dem...

Georges Sen-Gupta

It has not been a very successful day, as far as my habit formation is going. I was too tired to run before work, as I had almost no sleep the night before. I had intended to run after work, but was scuppered by the heavy rain. I did do 30 mins exercise indoors, but it left me tired rather than ener...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Having read around the subject, it seems that having too many goals can be counter productive. In the light of this, I think it might be wise to postpone the tango habit until the exercise and writing habits are established. I struggled with the exercise target today, due to the weather, and still h...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Hi Bert

Is there anything that really helps your motivation?

regards

Georges

Georges Sen-Gupta

Hi - nice to hear from you. http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/ has all the details of the method. Nothing odd about the budget - the idea is to pay for the tango by diverting the expenditure on alcohol. There is a limited monthly amount, so the more tango I do, the less money there is for drink. It's...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Three habits - 30 mins daily exercise, at least one hour writing the novel, and daily studying or dancing tango. I will reset all my habit trackers to start again on Monday 23rd. It will give me a chance to get it all fixed in my head. The exercise and novel writing behaviours are fairly well specif...

Georges Sen-Gupta

I have implemented the alcohol-tango budget using Toshl Finance for Chrome. I havenâ€™t got the details right yet, such as the regular budget amount. There is also a tension between a weekly tracking cycle, which is better for focussing attention on behaviour, and monthly tracking, which fits more w...

Georges Sen-Gupta · 12:20 am. Finally. Twenty past midnight. I did what I said I would do.

Finally. Twenty past midnight. I did what I said I would do.

Georges Sen-Gupta

1/3 habits so far today : Because I have not started my â€˜officialâ€™ 21 day period (starts monday), I am exempting the tango for today. I am scheduled to go dancing on Sunday, which I am looking forward to, and there is dancing tommorow (Friday) and Saturday. That leaves doing at least an hourâ€™s...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Three goals: exercise, novel, tango. Went running before work - lovely calm sunny morning. Currently I do a lap of the park, which is 2.5km. That's about 20 mins - I'm considering getting a timer and running for 30 mins, which is the goal. There is a train that goes from the park to my house, but co...

Georges Sen-Gupta

Georges' 21 day Daily check-in I am trying to put my life back together by establishing habits to achieve three goals. The habits are - 30 mins exercise every day - at least an hour writing every day - dance tango or study tango every day There is a slightly different relationship between each habit...

Georges Sen-Gupta

An impressive NYT article by John Tierney about how mental energy comes and goes - I liked the wedding list example! I was very cheered up to read this. I thought that being mentally exhausted and unable to function showed what a useless person I was. Now I can see that it is an entirely normal and ...

Georges Sen-Gupta

"Somewhere in those 10 months, I realized that I did not, in fact, lack in willpower. What I lacked was an understanding of how my mind worked and how to make it do what I wanted to do. In my past attempts at reforming my life, I tried to do things the hard way - not by habit, but by gritting my tee...

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