This posting thing
Hi! I'm a bit late to the conversation renewal party, but I've had a chaotic couple of weeks - helping sister pack up and move interstate, my own birthday, family birthdays, $800 hot water system dramas (*cry*), seemingly endless car problems, and a run of medical appointments.
But that's finally settling down, so I can probably spend some time doing this internet thingy that I used to do.
I have about ten posts backed up in my head, which makes
astolat's Ten in Ten challenge a bit timely. It's not stories, but I'll try to do ten posts in ten days, and see where that gets me.
Today's actual content:
I've been following the work of Stanford's BJ Fogg for many years now. He literally wrote the book on Persuasive Technology - how computers, websites, software, devices, etc can be used to change behaviour. I used to do stuff around travel behaviour change (getting people to switch from car driving to more sustainable and active forms of transport) so I used to be all about his research.
Last week I stumbled onto one of his current projects: Tiny Habits. It's a free program that teaches people how they can change their own behaviour. The approach involves creating three tiny habits a week, and the key parts are:
Anybody can apply this any time, but he also has a free program where you can join a week-long session to get feedback and advice by email as you establish your new tiny habits.
I signed up the second I saw it, and I'm finding it really interesting and effective. It's a very simple process, but it's very precise and has to be done just so for the habit to stick.
The whole thing reminds me of making poached eggs. It's not difficult to make poached eggs once you get the hang of it, but there's a technique to it - it has to be done just so. If you don't know the technique, poached eggs are a confusing and frustrating magical art. It's the same with these habits - a little bit of technique and a little bit of practice makes forming new habits easy once you get the hang of it. It's like Fogg has just figured out the steps for making poached eggs and told everybody what the steps are, and now we can all have poached eggs any time we want, except instead of poached eggs, it's new habits. It's kind of weird that we didn't know this before, but at least now we do.
On a side note, it makes me really excited and happy that this knowledge and the support program is free to anybody who wants to take it.
I get a bit negative about the fate of our world sometimes, and about the inability of our civil institutions to solve the world's problems. (We just had an election, and our new right-wing government doesn't believe in climate change and is going to remove our Carbon Tax. What the fucking fuck, Australia.)
But then I see things like this free program, like AirBnB, like edx, like TED, like Kickstarter, which use technology to open up our knowledge and our resources to be more accessible to more people, and to flow more efficiently to where they are wanted and needed. These things give me hope. :)
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth (
comments).
But that's finally settling down, so I can probably spend some time doing this internet thingy that I used to do.
I have about ten posts backed up in my head, which makes
astolat's Ten in Ten challenge a bit timely. It's not stories, but I'll try to do ten posts in ten days, and see where that gets me.
Today's actual content:
I've been following the work of Stanford's BJ Fogg for many years now. He literally wrote the book on Persuasive Technology - how computers, websites, software, devices, etc can be used to change behaviour. I used to do stuff around travel behaviour change (getting people to switch from car driving to more sustainable and active forms of transport) so I used to be all about his research.
Last week I stumbled onto one of his current projects: Tiny Habits. It's a free program that teaches people how they can change their own behaviour. The approach involves creating three tiny habits a week, and the key parts are:
- the habits have to be very quick (a few seconds) and painless - this is where the name 'tiny habits' comes from
- the new habits are done after existing habits, so that the existing habit becomes a trigger for a new habit
- you do a tiny celebration each time you do your new tiny habit
Anybody can apply this any time, but he also has a free program where you can join a week-long session to get feedback and advice by email as you establish your new tiny habits.
I signed up the second I saw it, and I'm finding it really interesting and effective. It's a very simple process, but it's very precise and has to be done just so for the habit to stick.
The whole thing reminds me of making poached eggs. It's not difficult to make poached eggs once you get the hang of it, but there's a technique to it - it has to be done just so. If you don't know the technique, poached eggs are a confusing and frustrating magical art. It's the same with these habits - a little bit of technique and a little bit of practice makes forming new habits easy once you get the hang of it. It's like Fogg has just figured out the steps for making poached eggs and told everybody what the steps are, and now we can all have poached eggs any time we want, except instead of poached eggs, it's new habits. It's kind of weird that we didn't know this before, but at least now we do.
On a side note, it makes me really excited and happy that this knowledge and the support program is free to anybody who wants to take it.
I get a bit negative about the fate of our world sometimes, and about the inability of our civil institutions to solve the world's problems. (We just had an election, and our new right-wing government doesn't believe in climate change and is going to remove our Carbon Tax. What the fucking fuck, Australia.)
But then I see things like this free program, like AirBnB, like edx, like TED, like Kickstarter, which use technology to open up our knowledge and our resources to be more accessible to more people, and to flow more efficiently to where they are wanted and needed. These things give me hope. :)
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth (
comments).