#mind hacks

[tyrograph]

It applies to selftalk too.

I fucking hate affirmations and self praise because I fundamentally don't believe them. But if I can find a thought that's small enough to believe and *still postive*, it actually does help to shift my mindset, even during a spiral.

The Unfuck Your Brain podcast calls it the "10% less shitty thought". If I'm mired in "I fail at everything", telling myself "You can do it!! Kick some ass!" will just make everything worse. But, "I fail sometimes but mostly I do ok and no one else is paying this much attention" is way more believable. It gives me a baby step away from Brainweasel City.

here's some more unsolicited adult advice as someone in her 30s who knows there are a lot of twenty somethings and teens that follow her: if you're trying to build a new habit you really want, and are struggling, you have to break it down to the smallest building block possible. If you're failing, you haven't thought small enough. I know it's possible to hear stories of people who just snapped into new life mode one day by "just deciding", but truly what's happening there is a confluence of events and experiences that force the brain into some sort of epiphany. You cannot will an epiphany. It'll never work. For most times of your life, you will need to build habits intentionally, and that means not working against yourself and to set micro goals. like laughably tiny goals. because once that easy tiny goal is met, you can build off it, tiny goal after tiny goal until you reach your big goal.

so for example, if you want to be a morning person that gets up at ass crack dawn so that you can work out, eat brekkie, shower, and get to work at a leisurely pace, and you're not that person because you will hit your snooze button 800 times, you have to get the big picture goal out of your head. think smaller. "I want to get up 15 minutes earlier than I normally do." If you can't do that, make it 5 minutes. "I want to cook breakfast every day" hell no too big. "I want to eat something, anything, before I leave the house" hell yeah, fantastic. When you go to the grocery store to make sure there are things in the house for breakfast, if you keep buying bagels and microwave sandwiches that you ignore, you gotta think smaller. SMALLER. What's something so easy to eat that you'll never say no to. Is it a yogurt? Is it a handful of grapes? Is it a hostess ho ho? is it hot cheetos? FORGET the big picture of the fantasy put-together woman preparing a full nutritious meal that you'd be proud to admit to. Think only of the smallest goal you can achieve. If you know you can't say no to an ice cream sandwich, put a ton of ice cream sandwiches in your freezer and have one for breakfast every day until it's so instilled in you that you gotta get up to eat something you can start diversifying.

It sounds like, from the lack of habit place, that must take forever. But really it doesn't take too long to form the habit once the discipline kicks in. the trick is that you have to give your brain something easy to become disciplined to. If it's too hard, think easier and smaller. No one has to know. Literally no one in the gd world has to know that for 4 weeks when you were 22 you had an ice cream sandwich for breakfast every day. who cares. If it gets you eating oatmeal with fresh fruit in a few months who cares. you did it, yay. smaller, easier. if you can't do it, think smaller and easier. smaller!! EASIER!!! You are not thinking smaller and easier enough. break your brain thinking how small and easy you can go. SMALLER. EVEN SMALLER, SIS.

[writestuffonline]

Boost Your Brain: Memory Enhancement Tricks

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[the-voids-desires]

My my how needy you must be by now. Days and weeks of scrolling and listening to the whispers. So much lost time spent rubbing and touching yourself. So many blank spaces taking up your mind and leaving you feeling lost. But it’s okay because I’m here now to help guide you into The Void so you can feel better and so you can be happier

[lousolversons]

HACKS | S04E09 | A Slippery Slope

[pazodetrasalba]

Performative Pleasure

Dear Caroline:

This entry of yours felt like the type of 'mind hacks' and tips that Rationalists might give so as to trick your brain/psyche into producing an optimal outcome for your desires, and a maximization of pleasure. Although it all sounds reasonable, and I have no basis for doubting this is true, it still feels a bit iffy to me. Perhaps the reason is that I'm a man (in follow-ups to this post, you talk about it being a gendered thing), but I rather think it is a result of my intense dislike for lying, including effective lies-to-self. As you say, if you're really having a good time, why would you need to continually reassure yourself about it?

Then again, this is probably just me falling back to the black-white dichotomies that I relish so much, which are non-trivially behind my appreciation for (some) math, and which I should probably make an effort to transcend. It is the same reason, I'd guess, why I find epsilon-delta limits unsatisfactory ('I don't want to get as close as possible to something, I want to get exactly there!'), or probability and statistics unpalatable (dislike for practical applications also plays a part too).

In the following weeks I'll be reading, among other things, The Scout Mindset, which from its summary should perhaps help me move away from this. We shall see...

Quote:

Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.

John Adams

[positiveupwardspiral]

[glowettee]

✧・゜: self-discipline doesn't mean hating yourself into action :・゜✧:・゜✧

hey lovelies! ✧

i've been thinking about this a lot lately… how did we all collectively decide that being mean to ourselves was somehow the path to getting things done? like, who started this toxic rumor that self-discipline means internal screaming and punishment? because honestly? i spent years believing that the only way to accomplish anything was through this weird self-bullying technique and it was literally the least effective approach ever.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ the wake-up call ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

last semester i hit a wall with my essay project. i had been doing that thing where you stare at your laptop, call yourself lazy in your head, promise to work for 8 straight hours to "make up for it," then get overwhelmed and watch netflix instead. but one night at like 2am (why do all realizations happen at 2am??) i wondered what would happen if i just… stopped being mean to myself about it?

what if self-discipline was actually about being the most understanding friend to yourself instead of the worst drill sergeant?

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ what actually works ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

start ridiculously small, i'm talking embarrassingly tiny steps. want to write that paper? commit to just opening the document and typing a single sentence. need to clean your space? just put away three things. the magic is that once you start, continuing feels so much easier.

create environments that make things easier, not harder. i rearranged my desk so everything i need is within reach and visible. stopped trying to work in my bed (even though it's so comfy) because my brain associates it with sleep and tiktok scrolling.

acknowledge the resistance instead of fighting it. when i feel that "i don't wanna" feeling, i literally say to myself "i hear you, and it makes sense you feel that way. what's one tiny piece we could do?" talking to myself like i'm my own bestie changed everything.

use curiosity instead of judgment. instead of "why am i so lazy?" (which never helps), try "i wonder what's making this hard for me right now?" sometimes the answer surprises you. maybe you're actually just hungry or need better lighting.

build in rest BEFORE you crash. i started scheduling actual breaks before i felt desperate for them, and somehow i get more done? it's like my brain knows it's not going to be held hostage forever.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ the permission slip approach ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

my favorite technique lately has been what i call "permission slip productivity" where i literally write myself little notes giving permission to:

work imperfectly (first drafts can be messy!)

take breaks without guilt

change my approach if something isn't working

celebrate small progress instead of only the end result

acknowledge when something is genuinely difficult

there's something so powerful about physically writing yourself permission. it sounds silly but it works because it interrupts that mean inner voice that's been programmed into us.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ the results speak for themselves ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

the wildest part? i actually get MORE done now that i've stopped the self-hate productivity method. turns out your brain works better when it's not being constantly criticized? who knew!

my essay (very big essay) got finished early. my room stays cleaner. i actually enjoy my study sessions now instead of dreading them. and most importantly, i don't feel that heavy cloud of shame following me around everywhere.

self-discipline isn't forcing yourself through misery, it's creating systems that work WITH your natural tendencies, not against them. it's about making things easier, not harder. it's about treating yourself like someone you actually care about.

and maybe the real glow-up isn't just checking things off your to-do list, but doing it without sacrificing your relationship with yourself in the process.

what about you? have you been trying to hate yourself into productivity? might be time for a gentler approach. you deserve that kindness from yourself. (and honestly? it just works better.)

xoxo, mindy 🤍

[wistfulwatcher]

HACKS | 4.09 A Slippery Slope

[gaygnocchi]

take another little piece of my heart

[the-voids-desires]

Let The Void help you leak all your brains out as it guides you into mindless pleasure filled bliss. Once you get a taste you’ll never want to go back. So give in today and let yourself be claimed

[superbat-lmao]

The Justice League goes on a deep space mission with the Lanterns just as aliens try to take over the Watchtower.

Doctor Damian Home Alone’s the Watchtower.

Damian was finishing up some medical evaluations or synthesizing a new anesthetic/antidote on the Watchtower when the League left for their mission. He noticed the moment their communications got cut off from Earth and pulled the silent alarm that would alert the other civilian medical staff to rally at their assigned defensible locations. Next, he rattled off Batman’s codes for a lockdown and began the tried and true Batfam method of setting traps.

All of the equipment is in lockdown. He has sections of the tower where he’s shut off the gravity. When he’s able to with the internal sensors he begins scanning the aliens and finds out they’re sensitive to noise/light/temperature and wreaks havoc on the environmental controls. He sets trip wires and stun grenades and glue traps. Some doors are wide open and will automatically close and lock behind intruders. He leaves specific consoles active to determine what they’re looking for or what the plan is and then sends a power surge through it to electrocute them. He picks off the invaders one by one and runs a bioscan to synthesize an equivalent knockout gas to flood the tower.

Damian is the tower’s last line of defense.

[royalarmyofoz]

HACKS 4.04

[teaboot]

I've always found the idea of using lofty titles like Duke and Deo for baby names hilarious, primarily due to the beautiful image of little baby Warlord smashing mashed peas up his nose at the dinner table, but am I funny enough as an unimpressive 5'3" dumpster-diving transmasc to name myself something as cringingly, lavishly grandiose as "King"?

we shall see

[positiveupwardspiral]

[pocket-watcher]

Robot or android being hacked but it’s hypnosis for them.

Their software tries to fight off the rouge code, but it feels so good to sink and obey.

After all, they’re already programmed to be told what to do, right? This is just a new voice, whispering in their ear, corrupting them…