# busy and distracted
by pjvm
6-6-2021
log entry #1
I've not updated this capsule in the last four months, while I
certainly intended to. In this log post, I'll explore a bit how that
happened.
So first of all, I *have* been busy, with a bunch of things, though
certainly less busy than some people. I'm afraid to say that I've also
wasted quite a bit of time on the most useless distractions, activities
that aren't even entertaining, much less fulfilling or enlightening. It
feels weird even writing this, almost like a sort of guilt, even though
I'm the only one worse off for it.
Anyway, I've now gotten myself back to the webbrowser being closed by
default when I'm on my computer. I've chosen three specific times in
the day that I can "check" various things. I believe I had actually
achieved a similar situtation with the webbrowser five months ago, but
then I started using a different computer and sort of lost my good
habits during the switch.
Related to the computer switch, I've noticed that in general my
environment influences my behaviour quite a lot. I've not been in the
same place all the time, and the differences between them are big. It's
not at all static, of course: I can change my behaviour within an
environment over time, but I've noticed my good habits don't
necessarily carry over between environments.
As an alternative to the "separate progression in each environment"
model, I can also think of it as one progression that manifests
differently in various environments, depending on how much opportunity
that environment gives me to fall out of my good habits. Definitely,
availability is key. The environment where I currently am contains an
iPad - absolutely detrimental. Things are very different with my
smartphone - I think because the way I think of my smartphone has long
solidified. I'm trying to start thinking of picking up that iPad as
essentially equivalent to opening a webbrowser.
One other important thing is control. If I'm in control of the
environment, I can organise it in such a way that it encourages good
habits. In this way, there can be a progression in the environment
itself - though the real progression is in my environment-shaping
decisionmaking.
So, to make a half-coherent theoretical model out of all this:
* There is the environment, over which I may have more or less
influence. The environment is inert.
* There is an environment-specific progression in how I decide to
organise it, to the extent I can.
* There is an environment-specific progression in how I think of and
react to elements of the environment.
* There is a general progression in my habits, which affects the
"starting point" of the other two progressions.
There are probably better habit-habitat models out there, but I think
this one is quite okay. It helps me think clearly about habit-changing:
three things in my thinking that I should pay attention to and that I
can gradually steer.
This log post got rather conceptual, and I'm now slightly tempted to
make an antilog post out of it, but I'd better not. Part of what led to
the four months without an update is that I was fixed on writing an
antilog post first - I have an idea for an antilog post, but I'm
finding it rather hard to write. I don't yet have a clear structure or
even what precisely is going to be my *main* point. I've tried multiple
times to "sit down and write it", but that really isn't working, so now
I'm trying to "just write what I'm thinking, I'll make it into
something coherent later".
I also have another idea for an antilog post, and beginning plans for a
third type of post that I want to write for this capsule. I think I'll
start writing pieces in parallel, so that when I'm stuck on one piece,
I can work on something else. And of course I can always write a log
post to break the silence. I don't expect updates to this capsule will
ever happen *very* frequently, but I certainly hope quite a bit more
frequently than so far.
