Comments on The Rational Entrepreneur: How to Follow Through: The Emerging Science of Sel...

@R.J. Hmm, randomly popping it up in the middle of...

2009-11-08T18:55:38.333-08:00

@R.J. Hmm, randomly popping it up in the middle of your work would seem like a distraction. If you have a to-do list, having it occasionally pop up when you check off an item might be a possibility. It would also tie into the power of having a random reinforcement schedule, with the usual caveat that there's always a little danger in having extrinsic rewards.

So if I wrote a computer program to deliver the ne...

2009-11-08T18:23:21.272-08:00

So if I wrote a computer program to deliver the newest xkcd comic to my screen at random intervals (it's like being gifted a comedy video)it would increase my productivity?

I've always found that a good way to hack this...

2009-11-08T10:23:28.225-08:00

I've always found that a good way to hack this a little bit is by not putting yourself in a situation where you need as much willpower. For example, if I start getting easily distracted, I go to a coffee shop to work for a while. Perhaps its peer pressure, but I find I'm more productive there. The small amount of willpower used to make that initial move ends up being much less then the amount of willpower I'd need to continually keep myself from being distracted.

If you don't want to eat so many chocolate bars, make the decision at the supermarket rather then having a bar sitting on your desk. That bar on your desk might be a smaller willpower decision but it gets repeated all day and wears you down. Game the system!

Basically, finding a low willpower decision now that anticipates and prevents running down my willpower tank later ends up being a good investment. It seems deceptively simple but it works.

btw. I got as far as the xkcd link and was like "oh! maybe there IS a new xkcd comic!"

@Vladimir: agreed, but I'm not sure how to lev...

2009-11-08T09:19:03.750-08:00

@Vladimir: agreed, but I'm not sure how to leverage that as an entrepreneur; it's not practical to schedule time to watch a funny movie every time I undergo an ego-depleting activity. :-)

Regarding willpower replenishment: there's ano...

2009-11-08T05:43:29.063-08:00

Regarding willpower replenishment: there's another Baumeister paper, titled "Restoring the self: Positive affect helps improve self-regulation following ego depletion". Here's the abstract:

"Previous work has shown that acts of self-regulation appear to deplete a psychological resource, resulting in poorer self-regulation subsequently. Four experiments using assorted manipulations and measures found that positive mood or emotion can counteract ego depletion. After an initial act of self-regulation, participants who watched a comedy video or received a surprise gift self-regulated on various tasks as well as non-depleted participants and significantly better than participants who experienced a sad mood induction, a neutral mood stimulus, or a brief rest period."

The PDF can be requested by email here:
http://www.psy.fsu.edu/~baumeistertice/pubs.html