turning intention-setting social

i’ve been reading the book “tiny experiments” by Anne-Laure Le Cunff. so far a great book, which contains a lot of productivity concepts, new and old, packaged up in a way that better resonates with me.

but i have a small disagreement with the opening of her chapter on procrastination, where she cites several examples of historical figures using unique methods to stay productive:

Many popular remedies are based on self-discipline. A close friend of mine once used the term white-knuckling—you clench really hard and hope that your willpower will prevail. Others recommend bullying yourself into doing the “right” thing—for example, by attaching punishment to the noncompletion of a task.

There’s the Ulysses technique—just as in the scene from Homer’s Odyssey, you tie yourself up so you have no choice in the matter and can therefore resist the sirens of distraction. Victor Hugo asked his staff to hide his clothes so he could not leave the house until he was done writing for the day. The founder of an online community for entrepreneurs told me he committed to donating money to a political party he loathed if he didn’t do what he set out to do. You can even buy the equivalent of digital rope: today, startups sell boxes with a lock so you can put your phone away while working.

… There is a reason why none of these methods work, and it has nothing to do with laziness or lack of discipline.

it’s a bit surprising that Anne-Laure cites these as methods that don’t work, as they are precisely the ones that did work for those particular people.

sometimes it really is just about locking up your phone or having your maids hide your clothing. but the truly inaccessible thing here is having such a lock box that you can’t open yourself, or having housekeeping living at your home.

these both have a social requirement—others who are willing to help you protect yourself from distraction, by keeping from you the physical objects that are the source of distraction.

there are a lot of apps and services that can digitally lock away things until your get something done, but i don’t think they’re that useful, as you likely have the master password to access the service and turn it off.

i think there is value to working with a friend or co-worker to take something from you so you can start work. just like how many people know to switch their brain from home-mode to work-mode by going to the office, or at least a particular area in their house, you are physically changing context to get in the mindset you want for your work, whether it’s professional or a hobby.

if you can’t switch your surroundings, maybe you can have someone take something away for the time you want to do your work, because it still changes your physical surroundings to something more conducive to work.

in the end, by removing your phone or some other distracting object you value, you are setting a very physical intention to do something for a period of time, until you can get that object back.

furthermore, the social aspect of this, using that friend or co-worker, creates a highly accountable intention. if you get weak and start asking for your phone back, you are explicitly giving up on your intention.

with those digital services, you can always give yourself a good enough excuse to turn off the distraction blocks, but with someone else that doesn’t have access to your infinitely logical internal monologue, all they see is someone giving up.

sometimes saving face by just doing the work you intended to do is worth the inconvenience of giving up your distractions, because you might be able to fall in love the process of work, and not have to do physical intention-setting again.

i think this practice is worth trying out. it’ll work well for some like Victor Hugo, and not at all for others. so keep experimenting.

best,

dom