i think the thing where you catch a teen smoking and you make them smoke an entire pack until they get sick of it has a lot to offer as a role model for behavior change
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that is, if you want to stop doing something, instead of attempting to force yourself to stop doing it, try forcing yourself to do much more of it
i sort of tweeted about this before but in different words and less directly
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i think i was undervaluing boredom as a force for change. run the existing strategy into the ground enough that you get bored of it and after the boredom space opens up for something else. repeatedly experiencing the strategy helps me notice how dead vs. alive it feels
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the aro meditation course has a funny meditation exercise that goes "try to think continuously with no gaps for 20 minutes" which is very much in the same vein
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aw yeah that's what i'm talkin bout
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you can actually speedrun having ~1,000 fights with people about all of the topics you like to fight about. you can do this in about 2-3 years or so. get it out of your system in your late teens, early 20s, realize it's incredibly unproductive, and then start being strategic
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I think i easily think continuously for long periods of time so I’m curious to see how this would work on me
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no honestly it sounded very unpleasant
Consider stuff!
Weigh the factors of some decisions.
Fantasize about the future.
Reminisce about the past.
Mentally rehearse some habit or skill.
Think of 100 novel uses of an everyday object.
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I found this exercise really fun and I just wanted to think more, so... hm 😅
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I think in Roaring Silence the instructions are to do it for 90 minutes; this is much less fun and makes the point better, for me; I had a similar experience with the 20 min version as you describe