Our brain is wired for self-sabotage 🚢

There are unconscious behavior traps that derail us from our conscious goals.

Everyone knows about snacking while trying to lose weight. But here are 3 more that I am wrestling with:

🧵🧵🧵

1️⃣ How do I stop waiting to talk?

I am interested in listening skills because I am curious to learn more from the people around me.

I start with full attention, but their great ideas are to me like squirrels for dogs.

💡::💆 as 🐿 :: 🐶

So irresistible, must bark about it.

Over the next 12 months, I will learn to be more present and appreciate people's gifts to me. Here's the plan:

1. interview people for the podcast

2. listen to recordings

3. analyze behaviors

4. look for patterns

5. update my approaches

rinse and repeat

2️⃣ How do I ungamify habits?

We all love games, but we are mostly exploited as players.

I first got interested in deliberate gamification a few years ago while working on a new project at Amazon. But it really kicked into a different gear last spring.

https://twitter.com/ZekeAranyLucas/status/1505303319794782210

Reading @add_hawk led me to a deeper exploration of how gamification pervades my options and becomes more exploitive like a constant casino.

In 6 months, I have:

1. quit F2P and IAP games

2. uninstalled social media from my phone

3. built a fitness habit with no points

3️⃣ "I know that I am not in DENIAL, I have checked myself."

My mother recently said this to me, and I thought, she can't know for sure, since the denial would block self-awareness.

But then, how do I identify denial in my own mental flows?

King of rabbit holes! or...

We have to build systems that include more than ourselves in the feedback loop. It's the only way to be resilient to self-sabotage.

It would be great to connect with other people who riddle on these same topics—so if any of the above resonates or feels wrong, please reach out!