My personal policy on sleeve rolls used to be “as many and as tight as possible” because I thought it looked cooler that way. I did not win fashion awards.

With your point about sitting down to play for just a few minutes and then finding that hours have disappeared, I like to apply that psychology to goals. I tell myself I’ll “just look at that project for a little bit” and soon it’ll be halfway done.

Also BotW rules.

This is really well said, and it explains a problem a lot of companies have, which is that there’s too much focus on impressing people inside the company instead of helping the actual customers.

The best part is when the companies then have to try to solve the mystery of why customers are leaving.

I was just struggling with this exact issue, so this article came at a great time! One thing I’ve found helpful is to treat priorities like distractions (“Ok, I’ll check this one thing quickly.” *takes three hours*) and distractions like priorities (“Eh I’ll get to it at some point.” *never gets to it*).

I like your point about changing the environment in your room to make it easier to read. It reminds me of how much easier it is to eat healthy when there’s no junk food nearby since it creates a situation where you harness the power of laziness to reach your goals instead of relying on willpower. Great strategy for a…

Awesome! I’ll keep an eye out, especially at the NY or DC area ones.

Sad to see you go. Thanks for all the good times here and everything you’ve done for the community. And who knows. I might even run into you at a gaming convention. Best wishes in everything you do.

Lots of counterintuitive and true points here. One related thing I’ve noticed is that a compliment from someone who is too nice sometimes feels worse than an insult because it’s hard to know if it was sincere.

“In reality, money management has everything to do with behavioral concepts...” Very true, and I feel like it applies to lots of things. People think it’s all about information when behavior is really the key. Thanks for writing!

Awesome list! My favorite one is probably the tech security one since it’s a great reminder to be aware that the easiest part of a system to trick is the user. I wonder if there’s a positive way to use that insight besides playing defense. By that, I mean which rules or patterns in our reality can we renegotiate or…

Great technique! I’ve definitely experienced the fact that preparing to explain something to someone else is great for revealing gaps in ones own understanding.

I especially like 6 and 11. For personal goals, I also like the idea betting a large amount with a friend. Example: “I’ll pay you $1000 if I don’t do XYZ by next Friday.” With something like that on the line, there’s no further need to worry about motivation.

Awesome tips! I’ll probably try applying the dishwasher tip to other areas too (with a similar pattern of leaving a small, easily-created difference as a reminder of something).

Very useful! Thanks for posting.

These all sound very familiar.