

Action and habit - te_platt
http://lesswrong.com/lw/60y/action_and_habit/

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swombat
_Watch your thoughts, for they become words._

 _Watch your words, for they become actions._

 _Watch your actions, for they become habits._

 _Watch your habits, for they become your character._

 _Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny._

Under the guise of being a piece of wisdom, this, to me, sounds like a healthy
recipe for going insane. Watch your thoughts? Indeed. Might as well try to
bite your own teeth.

The world becomes a lot more fun and easier to deal with once you stop trying
to control everything and realise that things tend to work pretty much ok even
if you don't keep a paranoid eye on them.

I much prefer the following Haiku:

 _Sitting silently,_

 _Doing nothing_

 _And the grass grows by itself._

~~~
GHFigs
In defense of a cheesy classroom poster, a better verb would be _observe_.
You're (reasonably) interpreting "watch" as something like "control" ("Watch
this prisoner."), but it can also mean simply to look at ("Watch the tide roll
in.")

As the human default seems to be blind acceptance of every rationalization
that appears in our minds, simply being more aware (by observation) that who
you are is a process and not an immutable state can be a profound step.

~~~
CamperBob
I'd have picked 'consider' or 'contemplate' rather than 'watch.'

Apart from the Orwellian undertones, you can 'watch' something without even
understanding it, much less influencing or controlling it.

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gohat
This post is very insightful.

To break down what it says, and offer my own thoughts, often, the path to
doing something at first challenging is: thought -> action -> habit,
belief/better life or outcome.

Achievable steps is also key. Trying to rush the process and immediately reach
the endpoint results in frustration.

So, "I want to learn to swim" => Spend 15 minutes practicing => Spend 15
minutes practicing 3 times a week... and so on, gradually ramping up is likely
to work, while, "I want to learn to swim" => 3 practices weekly of 1 hour is
likely to fail, in my experience.

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ericb
Here's to hoping Eliezer is habitually setting aside time for writing more
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

~~~
swombat
Yes, we need to make him think more about that, so those thoughts can become
words, and those words can become bytes, and those bytes can become words
again, and then finally return to their thoughtful state in my amused mind :-)

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RyanMcGreal
Why is the post by "superasn" dead? It's topical, relevant, has useful
information and is not rude or insulting.

~~~
jules
Could it be a false positive triggered by an automated system that kills posts
with improper capitalization by new accounts?

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yters
Quite Biblical. Paul says we are to be transformed through the renewing of our
mind.

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yelsgib
I find posts like this very annoying. As swombat points out, the claim that
you should "watch your thoughts" leaves one wondering: how do I do that? The
answer I assume I would get, were I to ask the author this question, is: "Just
do it!" Of course, the author has conveniently left out details regarding what
type of support he received from family/friends/coaches.

Anyway, that's exactly why this type of crap isn't useful.

To become excellent at a contingent skill (e.g. swimming, chess, math) you
must surround yourself with excellent, honest people who care about you.

To become excellent at a trascendental skill (e.g. "strength," "bravery") you
must isolate yourself and go very deep.

There is no other way.

~~~
simon_weber
That seems a bit harsh to me. Self motivation - both through thoughts and
through actions - is a very necessary part of building habits. Outside
motivation can be great too, but unlike self motivation it's not always
available. Will the friends/family/coaches wake up at 5am to convince you not
to sleep in? Even if they would, I'd rather be able to do it on my own.

