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Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Bringing the future closer
Something like: could we take five minutes twice a week, so I can be sure I am working on what matters most to you. You are the one proposing it, so it stays yours, and that is usually what makes it survive past the second week. If it turns into something done to you, it starts to feel like a performance review and you will quietly let it lapse.
'Take action! God will see your actions' (Quran 9:105). Being seen sits alongside the doing rather than being held over you as a threat.
التوبة
وَقُلِ ٱعۡمَلُواْ فَسَيَرَى ٱللَّهُ عَمَلَكُمۡ وَرَسُولُهُۥ وَٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَۖ وَسَتُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَٰلِمِ ٱلۡغَيۡبِ وَٱلشَّهَٰدَةِ فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمۡ تَعۡمَلُونَ
Say [Prophet], ‘Take action! God will see your actions- as will His Messenger and the believers- and then you will be returned to Him who knows what is seen and unseen, and He will tell you what you have been doing
Qur’an 9:105read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A meta-analysis of 65 randomised trials found that interventions built on self determination theory changed health behaviour, with autonomous motivation and perceived competence acting as the mechanisms in between. Those trials were about health rather than workplace check-ins, so this is a read across rather than direct evidence. What travels is the finding that ownership and feeling capable are the parts doing the work.
Sheeran P, Wright CE, Avishai A, Villegas ME, Lindemans JW, Klein WMP, Rothman AJ, Miles E, Ntoumanis N. (2020). Self-determination theory interventions for health behavior change: Meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation modeling of randomized controlled trials.. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
An arrangement you chose is one you keep, while one imposed on you is one you dodge.
Give the later self a name and be a bit silly about it. Is Thursday you going to be furious with Monday you again? Is Thursday you always the one clearing up?
The job will not feel more pleasant on Thursday. It will be the same job, done tired, in less time, with somebody waiting. Later is not the easier option. It only looks that way from here.
A reminder system is not a crutch you should be aiming to throw away. It is closer to a pair of glasses. You wear them because they work, and nobody expects your eyes to improve because you wore them for a year.