[9:46 pm: Doing calisthenics.]

In the last post, I wrote about doing things we know we shouldn't do and the web of goals.

The many interesting texts and notifications you enjoyed after checking your phone, starting from when you first started using a phone, are small "lessons" that teach your brain to favor checking it in any situation [1]. Knowing that checking it while driving is dangerous isn't enough. Associate the context of driving—your awareness of the fact that you're driving—with phone-checking risk.

One way to create that association could be to regularly vividly imagine counterfactual scenarios resulting from today's behaviors. Imagine yourself checking a phone notification, getting absorbed for 5 seconds, then drifting into a concrete barrier, crashing loudly and painfully, and dying shortly after from horrific injuries.

It might be enough to do this at increasing intervals à la spaced repetition. For extra motivation, watch a few graphic YouTube videos.

With a well-structured web of goals, if one of your goals is longevity, you'll get rid of this habit easily. You'll recognize that the habit of checking your phone clashes with your goal of living longer.

Compare the result of that behavior you've been doing on your daily commute with the result of your other behaviors, like going to the gym, being healthy, and spending time with a healthy family, and suddenly you'll realize that if you keep doing this for five years, you might not be around in five years to enjoy your healthy body and healthy family.

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[1] Badre, David. On Task (p. 66). Princeton University Press.

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