[3:42 pm: Patrolling a cyber city.]

There are things you do that you know you shouldn't do. You recognize at some level that you shouldn't do these things, but something's keeping you from stopping.

For example, you know you shouldn't check a notification on your phone that pops up while you're driving. But you still do it. The cognitive control system of your brain tells you that you shouldn't do it and you can sense it popping into consciousness ever so slightly.

The reason you continue this risky activity is partly the web of goals you've constructed for yourself. In Early Retirement Extreme, Jacob Lund Fisker talks about the web of goals that contribute to the future vision of yourself—your ultimate goal, the thing you're trying to optimize for.

The idea is to structure your life so the goals you choose result in a net positive. If you're raising a family and like to work out at the gym for 3 hours after 12-hour workdays, then spend all weekend building your SaaS startup, you might not see your family often, causing strife at home. Raising a family, getting fit, building a business, and working hard may be positive goals by themselves, but the way you combine them results in more harm in the long run.

To stop checking notifications every time they pop up while you're driving 80 miles an hour in the left lane of the highway, you need to restructure your web of goals.  

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