
How I Programmed Myself - bezvn
https://bezan.io/testing
======
codethief
This reminds me a lot of James Clear's "Atomic Habits" where he says that in
order to make a habit stick it needs to become part of one's identity. Writing
down one's beliefs for 10min in a row might certainly be one way of going
about this, though I do wonder how long it will last.

~~~
bezvn
That's interesting, pretty similar to this in a way.

All I know personally is that through repetition, behaviours/habits become
more ingrained into your identity.

It could be something to do with neural pathways getting 'deeper' the more a
certain behaviour is repeated?

Anecdotally, this method has worked well for me for a bunch of habits (like
social media addiction, exercise, diet etc.) for a 2-3 months now.

Definitely recommend grabbing a pen and paper and giving it a try for 10
minutes with a habit you want to change!

------
alfor
Make me think about how Scott Adams talk about affirmations.

Thank you for breaking it down in simple steps.

~~~
bezvn
Yeah, his book (How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big) is also
great on this topic.

He talks about how he changed bad habits/implemented new ones. But also on
using affirmations for bigger goals. Very interesting book.

------
imartin2k
Cool. A somewhat related self help book about that from 1960:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho-
Cybernetics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho-Cybernetics)

“Maltz became interested in why setting goals works. He learned that the power
of self-affirmation and mental visualization techniques used the connection
between the mind and the body. He specified techniques to develop a positive
inner goal as a means of developing a positive outer goals”

~~~
bezvn
I've been hearing a lot about this book lately. Added to my reading list.

These concepts definitely aren't new, probably as old as humans. But I wonder
who in history harnessed these methods to 'maximise' themselves really, really
well?

------
qplex
In addition to affirming what I want by repetition, I try to generate logical
ammunition for an argument: to think in depth how and why something is bad for
me.

It's very interesting how just repeating something makes it more "real".

~~~
bezvn
I'm really starting to think that the physical body (which contains the animal
mind) is really just an advanced self-learning AI that improves itself by
pattern recognition. And of course our consciousness (the self aware part) is
what can steer this AI more precisely.

It's almost like a stubborn mule (your physical avatar) and a rider (your self
aware consciousness).

The mule just wants instant gratification, while the rider wants to get up the
mountain. So you have to work with the mule, by providing instant
gratification that gets you both up the mountain.

I'm not sure if you've read much about neural plasticity - where behaviours
get programmed into the brain like a trail path. The more the trail gets
walked on (repetition), the deeper and more permanent it becomes.

But I don't think the animal mind understands logic that well, so you can
program it through repetition, hence making it more "real".

~~~
qplex
Sorry for my hazy morning scribbles. I meant real as in how this property
often is employed to mold our reality or behavior. Indeed the information has
more copies - or links (as a better analogy for brain structure). I should
have made it more clear that I don't use repetition to "program myself" or
change habits, but to affirm thought. I am familiar with the concept since
it's actively in use everywhere from religious mantras to marketing.

Generally life can be seen as a copy mechanism for DNA. The logic of it is
(drumroll) to make more copies. I'm not sure about artificiality, but
mentioning that reminds me that we are already capable of simulating neural
nets that very much correspond to some (simple) real organisms.

In any case, I agree that our brain is structured over time and old "animal"
areas of the brain appear sometime to have a firm hold over the cortex .
Deeply ingrained habits have indeed 'deep pathways', and of course they're not
only localized single neurons that can be flip-flopped.

Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain structurally change, or
rather to correspond to thought. The software/hardware analogy is useful but I
want to add thar the human brain is really not just a programmable computer,
but much more.

