Day Fifteen: Engineering Success

The temptations are ever-present: The TV beckons with its mindless entertainment, reddit and digg call with their endless stream of semi-interesting websites, and the food cupboard sings like a siren, demanding I sample its tasty treats.

Thus, each day is a battle with myself; my primitive brain demands satiation at the expense of my high-level brain's long term plans. One route to success is black-belt self-discipline kung-fu that decimates the primitive brain's pull by sheer force of will. Such self-discipline is beyond me currently, all though I am a willing apprentice and practice as much as I can.

An alternative route towards productivity and defeating temptation is for the long term planning brain to out-wit the primitive brain by removing temptations or at least creating less-destructive temptations.

An example of removing temptations is to get rid of all junk food from the house. Such removal stymies the primitive brain's desire for unhealthy snacks because satiating the desire then requires more than a simple trip to the kitchen.

An example of creating less-destructive temptations is to watch an educational program on TV instead of a mindless comedy. This is less destructive with respect to productivity because at least you are learning something. It is certainly better than nothing, but not as good as doing something fully productive.

This alternative route of removing and replacing temptations could be described as 'engineering success', because it utilizes the planning capabilities of our minds to circumvent the pull of our primitive brain's desires. It engineers a path through everyday life that meets our goals but does not require prodigious self-control. In contrast, the black-belt self-discipline kung-fu (willing ourselves to ignore every temptation) is more of a 'brute-force' route towards success (and is incredibly difficult).

So, given my current state, how can I engineer success with respect to being productive, and not overeating or overdrinking?

The first step I've taken is to get rid of my cable box and its demonic movies on demand feature! This devilish device provides horus upon hours of mindless entertainment at my fingertips. The next, more radical step in this sequence is to get rid of my TV. I know that watching TV is rarely helpful, but it is a nice way to wind down from a hard day. Yet, sometimes I find myself indulging the bad habit too often. Thus, its must go!

The next step is to avoid buying certain foods that lead me to overindulgence. I currently buy a lot of nuts (almonds, peanuts, soy nuts, etc.) because they are healthy in small doses and are damned tasty. However, I find myself snacking on them far too often. My self-discipline kung-fu is not yet developed enough that I can have these delicious morsels in the kitchen. They too, must go!

The last step, is to set goals for each day, and longer-term goals for each month. Everyone likes to succeed, and not to fail. So, I will have motivation then to reach these goals. If I fail, I will get angry at myself, which will provide drive to meet the next goal.

Although in an ideal world, I would have bruce-lee self-control, in this world I sadly do not possess it yet. So, instead of constantly fighting the current, I will instead engineer the river to flow smoothly downhill towards success.