Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 2364 of 3212

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Subject: Re: [nosdiet] feeling weak
From: Reinhard Engels
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 07:04:18 -0800 (PST)
    

Hi Diane,

--- Diane Sheats <Diane_Design@...> wrote:
> 
> Hey, why not go buy those little round stickers in
> red and green (any office 
> supply has them), and put one on the calendar for
> every day? Green for days 
> when you stay totally on plan...red for days when
> you had a "learning 
> experience"! Or get really fancy and buy yellow
> too, for days between red and green.

Stickers are a great idea. Magic markers might do the
trick, too. I'd use yellow to designate S days (or
whatever permitted exception days the habit you are
working on permits) instead of halfway successes.
Keeping success and failure binary is critical. Every
day should on habit should be either success, failure,
or exempt. No, it's not the most accurate
*description* of human behavior with all of its subtle
nuances, but it's a very useful *prescription* for
changing it.

Sorry I forgot about your no-s stickers. I've stuck
them on the site here:

http://www.nosdiet.com/nos_stickers.doc

I'll link to them from the site when I add the
day-on-habit section. Thanks again!

Fans of Diane's work will find more to admire here:

https://www.cafepress.com/everydaysystems

Mary,

--- Mary Costanzo <maryecost@...> wrote:
> I was using the red slash on
> days that were 100% successful and then a red slash
> with an 'S' in each corner to signify that I had
> attempted but not quite made it. For some reason I
> quit marking those 'not quite' days. I think it
> does help to see a series of days marked off even if
> they don't all contain the red slash.
> 
> Mary (who just happens to be a computer programmer)

In case you have any professional interest, the
red/green generating program I stare at every day is
'anthill.' 

http://www.urbancode.com/projects/anthill/default.jsp

Slashers and habit traffic lighters, keep posting your
experiences. I'm very curious how these work for
people.

Reinhard

 © 2002-2005 Reinhard Engels, All Rights Reserved.