HabitRPG dailies

[jack]

I've been very cautious with setting up daily resolutions on habit rpg because the punishment is a really crappy way to learn. Several friends have used NO dailies and I think that's wise. Or rather, I like developing streaks, I'm not sure about taking damage -- that makes sense, but is very dispiriting, rewards are generally better!

But I did use them for things I know I CAN do every day, but have had difficulty actually motivating me to do, such as a regular morning routine when I don't skip half of it most of the time. After a week and a half, that's gone very well -- I have fulfilled them basically every day with no angst. Go me!

But one has been very difficult, "take a lunch hour less than an hour". I knew I sometimes ran over, trying to fit in too many things, trying to reply to some emails, etc, trying to do shopping, go for a walk, play some Ingress, write a blog post, etc... when really "eat lunch, say hi to people, stretch legs and rest eyes for 20 minutes" is about all I usually have time for. But I hadn't realised that had been almost EVERY day. It's not been a big problem as long as I work the rest of the time, but I think I need to stop pretending that trying to fit things in isn't distracting, and find things I can do to relax that don't involve "and I'll just do one more thing"...

Comments

[marnanel]

I am slightly confused: you have a resolution to take a lunch hour less than an hour? or not to do so?

[jack]

My resolution is to make it less than an hour, but I have failed that almost every day. But I might have accidentally said the opposite, sorry :)

[marnanel]

Oh no, you said exactly that-- it's just that I've often heard people resolve to take the full lunchbreak but rarely heard them resolve to take less, so I got confused and wanted to check.

[jack]

Ah! That makes sense. I think I know both procrastinators and obsessives with workaholic tendencies, often the same people. Who would need opposite resolutions. Maybe most people just assume taking >1hr is so obviously bad they don't do it? But I assumed it must be common in flexible places where it's easy not to notice -- certainly if there's something I need to do, I used to be able to procrastinate all day on it, and I've heard other people say the same, but maybe it's only at lunchtime I notice that counting as "not work"?

[syderia]

The way I proceed on HabitRPG with things like that is that I usually start by making it an habit. I have the goal of making it daily, but I don't express it on the website. Then, once I've been hitting the mark almost every day and I feel sure enough of myself, I'll move it into the daily column. (I did that for taking the stairs at work, for instance.)

What you could also do, if you don't want to take the damage, is put it into the daily column but checking off all the days. That day, you get points for doing it but no hits for not doing it.