Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Systems for daily life
Put small obstacles between the urge and the doing. One browser used only for work, tempting apps buried three folders down, notifications off for anything that is not an actual person you love.
None of this stops a determined person and it is not meant to. It adds four seconds, and four seconds is often enough for the urge to lose its grip. Do the setting up on a calm afternoon rather than trying to arrange it while you are already itching to escape. Log out of the accounts too, so that getting back in is a small chore rather than a reflex.
Qur’an and Sunnah
If you are on a journey, and cannot find a scribe, something should be handed over as security (Quran 2:283). A safeguard is put in place in advance, on the understanding that intentions alone were not thought sufficient.
۞وَإِن كُنتُمۡ عَلَىٰ سَفَرࣲ وَلَمۡ تَجِدُواْ كَاتِبࣰ ا فَرِهَٰنࣱ مَّقۡبُوضَةࣱۖ فَإِنۡ أَمِنَ بَعۡضُكُم بَعۡضࣰ ا فَلۡيُؤَدِّ ٱلَّذِي ٱؤۡتُمِنَ أَمَٰنَتَهُۥ وَلۡيَتَّقِ ٱللَّهَ رَبَّهُۥۗ وَلَا تَكۡتُمُواْ ٱلشَّهَٰدَةَۚ وَمَن يَكۡتُمۡهَا فَإِنَّهُۥٓ ءَاثِمࣱ قَلۡبُهُۥۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِمَا تَعۡمَلُونَ عَلِيمࣱ
If you are on a journey, and cannot find a scribe, something should be handed over as security, but if you decide to trust one another, then let the one who is trusted fulfil his trust; let him be mindful of God, his Lord. Do not conceal evidence: anyone who does so has a sinful heart, and God is fully aware of everything you do
Qur’an 2:283read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A systematic review and meta-analysis examined computer, mobile and wearable systems that prompt people to break up long stretches of sitting, and coded the techniques those systems used. It is about sedentary time rather than about tabs and notifications. The shared principle is the one above: alter the setting so that the resisting is not left to the person at the moment they are least able to do it.
Stephenson A, McDonough SM, Murphy MH, Nugent CD, Mair JL. (2017). Using computer, mobile and wearable technology enhanced interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis.. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Stopping yourself in the moment is the hard part, so it is easier to make the unhelpful thing slightly awkward to reach.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Start at the moment you have to be there and work backwards, writing each step and how long it takes, until you reach the hour you have to get up.
Ask what is working and what is not, rather than whether you did well or badly. The first question you can answer honestly. The second one you will lie to yourself about.
Some jobs never move because they were never yours. Somebody else wanted them and you wrote them down to be kind.