Everyday Systems

Hi Stefan, Glad it resonated! You are absolutely right about it getting tougher as we get older. Our habits may be better, more firmly in place -- but the same effort often doesn't yield the same results. Metabolism and all that. I think for me the process has been mostly so slow and smooth that I h...

New Episode -- enjoy!

Episode 96: Greenishness
Posted by Reinhard on 2025-06-16
Brokenhearted about breaking your streak? Let Greenishness Be Thy Motivation.
https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/96/

New Episode -- enjoy! Episode 95: Allocation Mind Posted by Reinhard on 2025-04-30 When "growth mindset" hits its limits, it's time for another approach. https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/95/ I've been pushing these podcast episodes to youtube recently and getting some comments there. I wo...

Ha, ha. Thank you, Stefan!

I've been putting this one off for years, but I finally had to (sorry?):

Episode 94: G-Ray Vision
Posted by Reinhard on 2025-03-27
A mock superpower for not looking at porn.
https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/94/

You are very welcome, ceo418! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

So glad to hear it! Good luck and curious to hear how it works for you.

New episode, enjoy!

Episode 93: Weekend Luddite 2025: The Rules, The Persona
Posted by Reinhard on 2025-02-28
Specific rules and a general approach for managing your relationship with technology -- battle hardened by over 20 years of practice.

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/93/

So glad you liked it, oolala53. Yes, Zeno is surprisingly Zen, in a way. Interesting about the impact of those very intermittent mega workouts. I do believe that much of exercise is about sending a "signal" to the body that muscle etc. is in fact needed, rather than some construction project. The bo...

Thank you, Stefan! I love the British officers at Eaton analogy. I guess you could say "Everyday Systems are won on the gameboards of Wingspan and Cataan -- there practitioners learn to reconcile competition and cooperation, allocate limited resources, and practice serene acceptance, and enjoy all o...

It's so sad that rather from learning from the rest of the world in terms of moderate eating, the rest of the world is learning from us/US... I find it baffling that the causes of obesity and these related conditions are still treated as such a mystery. I read an article recently about this new buzz...

New episode -- hope you like it!

Episode 92: The Wisdom of Games
Posted by Reinhard on 2025-01-28
Game mechanics as life hacks (also some game recommendations).

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/92/

Congratulations and thank you for letting us know!

Thanks, Stefan! Working on a few in parallel, not sure which will be ready first.

Final episode for 2024, hopefully with a little something for everyone: Episode 91: State of the Systems 2024 Posted by Reinhard on 2024-12-30 6th annual review of the Everyday Systems and how they are doing for me personally https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/91/ Apologies for my weirder-t...

Hi Stefan, Yes, I do a fair amount of stretching now and warm up now, possibly most of it useless, and I do it partly out of superstition (and so if I ever have to go back to a PT again, I can say "see, I've been doing this for years!"). Some if it is straight from PT, some if it is from random stuf...

A couple of caveats about the episode: 1) sorry about all the ".01" etc. stuff -- I didn't realize when I was putting together my script how badly all those decimals would speak. I should have stuck with "thousandths" and "hundredths" when possible. 2) after some subsequent investigation, I feel lik...

So glad you enjoyed it, Stefan! We experiential learners have it hard... :-) I do Shovelglove Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Run Tuesdays, Thursdays and usually Sunday but sometimes Saturday instead. The Shovelglove days I'm pretty religious about keeping on that cadence, the running days I'll sw...

New everyday systems podcast episode #90:

Zeno's Paradox Exercise Progress Plan -or- How to Philosophize with a Sledgehammer
Bounce back from injuries and setbacks by recasting progress as a reward
https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/90/

The math sounds promising! Good luck and looking forward to hearing how it goes. Just remember the Mr. Micawber principle: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty-pound ought and six, result misery" (...

New episode. Hope you enjoy.

Episode 89: Proactive Procrastination (ProPro)
Posted by Reinhard on 2024-11-20
How to stop permasnacking on news. Use techniques inspired by the No S Diet and read it like a meal

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/89/

So glad to see this check-in, Diego! I agree with you about them feeling like "religious practices." This is a good thing! Whatever your take on religion, religion gets habits. I find there are so many holidays and such (NWS days) that it would be too much to add another regular S day. As things sta...

Nice streak! Sorry it's taken forever for me to pop by here.

Sounds like you have a good handle on "habit vs. calories" (prioritizing the former).

Best of luck going forward!

Just posted a new episode -- rather late, but just (and appropriately) in time for Halloween. Enjoy!

Episode 88: The Metaphysics of Todo Listing
Posted by Reinhard on 2024-10-31
Todo Lists Are Your Salvation / Todo Lists Are Your Damnation
https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/88/

I am not a fan myself. But it is easy to administer (spam basically defeated me here -- I had to lock it down so hard it's almost impossible for new people to join). And people seem to be there. One thing I've found helpful in keeping it in bounds is not having the app on my phone -- a very helpful ...

Sinnie, I'm so glad it resonated with you and thank you for letting me know! For me, all my various "glass ceilings" are mostly, at the end of the day, attempts to deal with anxiety -- or rather with my muddled, sometimes dysfunctional attempts to cope with it. It's messy and often embarrassing, but...

ladybird, thank you for sharing your thoughts! I'm so glad you got something out of this episode even if this particular problem isn't much of an issue for you. As you noticed, it does have some elements in common with other problems, and could be useful in thinking about them. If you haven't read A...

Hi Stefan,' I'm glad it resonated with you! That's a good question about the 2... 4 I've heard as the threshold for a "binge," so I didn't want that. One felt too paltry. And three (if actually practiced daily) would also have bumped into other published thresholds I'd read for alcoholism. I think I...

Episode 87: Variable-Height Glass Ceiling A more nuanced approach to systematically moderating alcohol (and other substances) https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/87/ This started out being a draft glass ceiling update chapter for the book, but morphed into a more expansive reconsideration. I...

So good to hear! And thanks for letting us know. "Nothing much to report" is very encouraging at 15 years into it!

Hi Per, Sorry for the delayed response. It's a tad heavy, assuming you are not fairly fit already. I started with 12 pounds and it was fine, but I tend to advise easing into it more gently. But it makes a huge amount of difference where you place your hands in terms of how strenuous the movements ar...

Enjoy!

Episode 86: Motive Mixologist
When you don't like what you want

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/86/

Reinhard

I'm glad you liked it Stefan! And wow, what a response! I love your German version. I'm trying to think what I might say differently, but nothing jumps out at me. Very well done! I have experimented with rucking before I'd ever heard the term, maybe 15 years ago. I basically put 10 pounds of change ...

Glad you like it, Stefan!

I'll keep thinking about it...

Enjoy! Urban Ranger, from scratch, as if I’d never spoken or written about it before. Draft chapter for the upcoming Everyday Systems Compendium, and hopefully interesting and useful in its own right. https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/85/ (Sorry this was so late. These "review" episodes ac...

You are so welcome, Kat! Thank you for taking the time to listen to it (and post these kind words).
So glad No S is working for you again.

Reinhard

Hi Amy, Yes, I think your epic move for you mom might qualify as a top of the mountain situation! I had to do something similar for my dad a few years ago. He never wanted to make any plans for the future and then the future just came and got him. His Parkinson's suddenly got much worse and literall...

A very thought provoking question! My first thought was to downplay the necessity of that for most people: little if anything in most of our lives falls into the moonshot/Everest category. And do we really need Everest ascents and moonshots? From anyone? My next thought was that even if these goals ...

Thank you for this thoughtful response, Stefan! I think, high-level, the way to bring moderation + challenge together is two fold: 1. "Exposure therapy" on all fronts. So seeking challenges -- but moderate and controlled challenges, that are likely to stretch but not break us. To the extent that we ...

I enjoyed it as well! (I've enjoyed everything I've read of his)

Many years ago he wrote a nice little piece in the guardian about everyday systems:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... .features4

Reinhard

Enjoy!

Episode 84: The Hygiene Hypothesis as the Explanation for Everything
Cure all your ailments with dirt, pain and danger

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/84/

Thank you, Amy! I am glad it resonated with you. And that No-s is still working for you after so many years (and the habitcal too!).

Hi Stefan, Questions like yours are why I do this "work" at all! I'm so glad the powerfully silly start times look like they might work for you too. "Up before the enemy" certainly is striking! And I like the way you've spun it around to find the humor in it. I have two month period coming up when I...

Interesting! Thank you, Alex! I will definitely check this out. Looks right up my alley (und eine gute Übung für mein Deutsch!)

Reinhard

Glad you like it, Stefan! I too prefer print, but I'm not sure how the economics of that work with self-publishing (what I'd been intending to do with the Everyday Systems compendium). I know ebook is easy, and the economics make sense, even if I don't wind up selling many copies. I'll look into it ...

Hi long-suffering No-S bulletin boarders, finally an episode squarely of interest to you: Episode 83: The No S Diet 2024 https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/83/ The No S Diet, from scratch, as if I’d never spoken or written about it before. Draft chapter for the upcoming Everyday Systems Com...

I'm glad you liked this episode, Stefan! Your question about the "angel numbers" a little while ago was the inspiration for it. I don't have a name specifically for the getting up early part... it's not quite Timebox Lord, or Schedulualisticly Insignificant Time... it's a special case of "Powerfully...

No worries, I've taken similar hiatuses (no more!).

Understood about FB, it's an acquired compulsion...

Happy lurking! (and maybe more than that once I make some more tech progress and can entice people back here again...)

Reinhard

You are very welcome, Amy! I hope I have something more exciting (or at least forward moving!) to report at the end of this month.

Glad it resonated with you, Amy!

Hi All (or rather, the few of you who are still left here!), As promised in my last state of the systems podcast, I'm going to post a monthly update of what I've done to upgrade the technical underpinnings of the everydaysystems sites in the same cadence in which I push out the podcast episodes. Wel...

Enjoy! (sorry, not what I said I would podcast about -- No S re-assessment will come next month) Episode 82: The Clock & the Calendar, your Sword & Shield Posted by Reinhard on 2024-01-31 Build habits by leaning on the clock and calendar rather than fighting against them. Beyond N and S days. Cutesy...

You are fight, Duncan. I'm glad you figured it out anyway. I'm hoping to have this fixed in the next few months, but a temporary announcement is easy enough to add.

Thank you, Stefan! I so appreciate your thoughtful feedback and encouragement. I'm glad my revisiting old systems plan sounds of interest. Thanks also for the episode suggestion -- I do have quite a few thoughts on that subject (sleep protocols, the psychological power of number). Just trying to thi...

Annual update on all the Everyday Systems and how they are doing for me personally

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/81/

I'm so glad, Deb. Thanks for letting me know!

Hi all -- new podcast episode. Hope you enjoy! https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/80/ Episode 80: Antimantras & Repetitive Thought Injuries Posted by Reinhard on 2023-11-30 I think I mix about 14 metaphors in this episode: We’ve got a goose-stepping white bear baseball player with devil hor...

Thank you, Stefan, as always, for another thoughtful response! (and sorry that it took me a week to see that you'd posted it) I guess I may have been overstating the case a little -- playing devil's advocate (or demon's advocate) a little too enthusiastically. I mentioned "no s" as being a system th...

So happy to hear it! Congratulations and thank you for letting us know!

So good to hear it, DaveMC. Really appreciate the ongoing updates!

New Podcast Episode Everyday Systems #79: My Pet Demon Oct 25, 2023 Self-saboteur? Time to stop playing with your pet demons (maybe). https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/79/ Enjoy! (FYI if you can't figure out how to sign up to this ancient bulletin board, try the facebook group: https://www...

New podcast episode:

Spider Hunter: A CBT for Anxiety Game

Anxious? Here's a fun technique for getting over it. It's halfway between gamified mindfulness and exposure therapy.

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/78/

Enjoy!

Thank you for your thoughtful response, Stefan! A "habit prison" is indeed a danger for people like us. :-) I've gone through many periods in my life when I find I've loaded too much on -- and then something like Aristotelian Self-portrait helps me whittle it down again. Shovelglove per se easily fi...

On time (in the nick of time!) this month:

Aristotle: "You are what you repeatedly do." Well, what do you repeatedly do? In this episode, an exercise for finding out.

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/77/

Enjoy!

Welcome! And congratulations on making it through the awkward registration process! Yes, the board will stay as long as I'm able to keep it alive -- and upgrade plans to make it less goofy while still blocking spam are in (slow) progress. In the meantime, the FB group is livelier. I don't love FB ei...

So glad to see you here again, DaveMC! And that No S is still working for you.

Good wishes/vibes from me as well! Sorry I haven't been much of a presence here lately.

Still working on that "board reboot." (and in the meantime, more on facebook)

New Podcast Episode:

My Friend, ChatGPT

Practice being human with AI

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/76/

(Sorry this is a little late. To balance that out, it's also a little too long.

)

Thank you for your patience and continuing encouragement!

I'm hopeful I can make the switch/upgrade in June.

New podcast episode:

Apps for Demihumans

Everyday Systems as Apps for Human Minds

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/75/

(Half of what I originally meant to cover in this episode, but I was running out of March and want to keep my one-episode-a-month streak going!)

Somehow that aspect of my German nature seems to have skipped a generation (or two -- my kids are slobs too).

I'm intrigued by Swedish Death Cleaning! (Great title, if nothing else)

I'll check it out.

Reinhard

I'm so glad to hear it! Thank you for letting me know!

Reinhard

New podcast episode:

Four catchphrases for tidier habits.

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/74/

Hope something in there resonates with someone!

P.S. sorry the bulletin board upgrade progress seems to have stalled -- things are (very slowly) happening behind the scenes.

Progress update: the new everyday systems "droplet" has been spun up... this way we can get everything working without operating on a live patient. I'll post here as we get each component transferred and upgraded.

Sorry it's taking me a while to respond to this, but I will!

(in fairness, your "tomorrow" is taking a while, too)

But no rush! We want to get this right and that takes some mulling.

So glad it resonated with you, Amy!

Thanks for letting me know!

"Save the bulletin board" status update: this is a small step, but we just got https working on all 4 everyday systems sites instead of just everydaysystems.com (something that's been nagging me for years). So now nosdiet.com, shovelglove.com and urbanranger.com all use https. There's no practical s...

Glad you think so! We had two coffees together about it already to plan. Next week we might start breaking stuff...

New podcast episode:

Demihuman: a lighthearted approach to imposter syndrome

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/73/

Enjoy!

Reinhard

reinhard wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:04 pm
A little later and much shorter than last year:

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/72/

Reinhard

Glad you are both off to a good start!

Wow, that's a disincentive all right.

Good luck!

I'm glad you enjoyed it Stefan! I like Sabbat-Säufer. :-) But I do find it helpful to keep all the systems in sync and mutually reinforcing each other with the N-day/S-day divide. Fridays in the past have been particularly challenging -- so it's actually been quite helpful to keep my guard up just t...

Update: I've been speaking with a friend who has current professional knowledge of how to do this sort of thing (he's in "devops") and a plan is emerging... more soon!

Thank you for stopping by, Andrew!

Let's exchange notes as we figure the writing thing out. I see you've already started already in a new thread. Will pop over there shortly!

Reinhard

Amen!

Thank you, Amy! My research project for this year (or however long it takes) is to go hunting for that happier medium, if it exists. Maybe it'll be a mirage, a Loch Ness monster, but maybe not. A worthy quest for a self-help guru, in any case. So glad you are still getting good mileage out of the ha...

A little later and much shorter than last year:

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/72/

Reinhard

Thank you for checking in again, and congratulations on your perseverance over so many years and through so many challenges! I wish diet and exercise could just be figured out once and for all and that's it -- but life keeps throwing new challenges at us. I know I experience that with my "golfer's e...

Welcome back! And sorry for the delayed welcome.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Reinhard

Congratulations, LadyBird! And thank you for sharing here.

Thanks also for sharing those titles (and appreciating what a great and consistent support Oolala has been here for so many years now!)

Reinhard

My resolution this year is to get this bulletin board into better shape, so new members can join without the hassle of me personally having to approve them from a flood of spam join requests, and we can preserve and learn from the many historical posts that are still here. It may involve some downti...

Diego,

Congratulations on your no s / shovelglove success and thank you for sharing!

I always love hearing the details on how people make these things work for them (outdoors, different S-days).

So good you clearly have the "maintenance is more important than progress" mindset.

Reinhard

Just in time for Thanksgivings: A two-word anti-mantra to snap you and your family out of automatic bickering:

https://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode/71/

Hi Amy,

Glad it resonated with you! Hope you find it useful.

Reinhard

Finally an episode squarely about No S again! Hope you enjoy it. Podcast #70: Surgical Flogging Food logging: apparently it works. But it's torture to do long term. I discuss a way you can practice a limited, strategic, surgical form of food logging with the No S Diet (or any other diet) that gives ...

Thank you, Ladybird!

It's been a rough few years for the whole planet so I can't wallow too much, but I do appreciate your kind sympathy nonetheless!

It's an interesting challenge, this getting old business... I hope I can continue to see it that way!

Thank you, again, Stefan! I so appreciate your feedback and good advice, here and in email. The "anti spam" features of this bulletin board dissuade almost anyone new from joining so it's great that some old timer as least have persisted! I need to figure out a better solution to that issue -- Faceb...

After 20 years of swinging my sledgehammer injury-free, I discovered that that even Shovelglove can cause or at least be impacted by injury. How Shovelglove principles like "schedulalistically insignificant time "and "maintenance is more important that progress" have been key to my recovery. https:/...

Sorry for the delayed response! Welcome!

That does sound rather long!

I guess if you have high enough ceilings, you can do something with it, though.

I like your list of pros... though I might suggest for practicality investigating getting a shorter handle.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

Search found 5961 matches