How easy is it to just get outside of the house? An experiment.
I noticed I resisted decision/preparation timeouts in leaving the house. I thought I could train a discrete progression of actions (remember, decide, get ready, GO!) and turn it into a keystone daily habit that I can make other plans around.Starting March 22, I decided that if I noticed I had no plans to leave the house, I would use the next break to step outside and wander a bit.
Data
Review Apr 8 - The "breaks" I take are not discrete, actually. I'd forgotten about this. I made a ritual habit to venture outside at noon every day instead.Todo Notes Apr 11 - I haven't used my scooter in a while. Instead, I got rides with my romantic partner. The sky got cloudy and rained over the weekend. Fat chance I was going outside in that.
Review Apr 29 - Over the past week I have gone on multiple walks, 2 drives, and to lunch with a friend. I'm not really paying attention to this anymore; whether I do anything about it is highly dependent on my mental state.
Conclusions
This provided some useful information. When I am in a good mental state, I'm willing and ready to try to solve problems. Readiness to leave the house comes as a natural extension of this. With this in mind, I conclude that I need to improve my mental state in general.Followup
I threw some trigger-action habit flashcards in my anki deck to cover some 80% of situations that tank my mental state, and these have been in action to varying success since April.
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Was this a nice read? Does this seem like something worth performing for yourself? I would greatly appreciate it if you took a couple seconds to comment yes or no.
I find that, as you said, if you're ready to go, it's easy to head out for short spells throughout the day. My habit of wearing clothes I slouch around the house in, and never putting on shoes makes it less likely that I'll leave the house.
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ReplyDeleteAs someone who also occasionally struggles to get from goal to action, I relate to this post naturally. However, the post is written in a way that isn't very palatable. A touch of humor would engage the audience without destroying the good objectivity.
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