Date: 09.11.2022

If we can agree that the sun will rise tomorrow. We can also agree that for some, the sun will rise from the opposite side of good.

Not all days offer us the blissful blank slate. A condition of calmness and eagerness to start the day. Commonly, our minds are (still) busy battling the problems of yesterday.

In our efforts to overcome the struggles, we try to make plans, only to find out that these plans are only wishful thinking.

Then we try to make additional plans that should guard the plans we've already prepared. Sadly, we soon realize that this is not working either.

In the age of distractions. A world where you are a click away from disturbing your flow. It's hard to prepare for everything.

There are focus killers literally all around us - the most notable one is usually inside our pockets.

Thankfully, in 1999, a guy named Peter Gollwitzer created a sort of strategy that can potentially steer us back to our desired behavior.

In the following piece, I explore how it can be tailored to our current reality:

Defining Implementation Intentions and How to Make Them Work In The 21st Century

• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel: Our behavior patterns prevent us from having good financial health. We accumulate debt and fail to meet our investment goals not because we don’t know what to do, but because we’re too greedy or deeply involved in social games where we compare ourselves to the people around us.

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Interesting books I recently added to my reading list (and hopefully will read at some point):

• Thinking on Paper by V.A. Howard and J.H. Barton: The basic idea of the books is rather simple: Use writing as an opportunity to organize your current thoughts and generate new ones. Writing on paper is not only a way to communicate. But a way of shaping thought.
• Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction by Judith Grisel: Never Enough bounces between an addiction memoir (the story of the author) and a neuroscience workbook (what science say about addiction). The end result is a gritty hell-ride from personal ruin to rainbow-like recovery.

John B. Calhoun

Born in May 1917. John Bumpass Calhoun was an American ethologist and behavioral researcher. He believed that overpopulation can threaten the future of the human race. His studies in population density and its effects on behavior gained world recognition.

Big idea: Behavioral Sink

The term behavioral sink describes a collapse in behavior that can result from overcrowding.

The initial hypothesis of John B. Calhoun was simple. He believed that when the population increases in a limited space. This leads to social breakdown.

To showcase this, he conducted a series of experiments with rats.

The idea was to create "rat utopias" - "enclosed spaces in which rats were given unlimited access to food and water, enabling unfettered population growth." The only adversity was the limit on space.

Initially, the rat population grew at a rapid rate. Doubling every 55 days. However, that changed on day 315. The population growth dropped significantly - doubling every 145 days. Also, there was a breakdown in the social structure. Some of the changes in behavior were the following: Inability for males to maintain their territory; Young were expulsioned before weaning was complete; Aggressive behavior of females; Wounding of young rats; Increase in homosexual behavior.

After day 600. The social breakdown continued and permanently changed. The population declined toward extinction. Females ceased to reproduce, while males withdrew completely from all social interactions. They were mainly engaged in solitary pursuits - eating, sleeping, and self-grooming.

The conclusion from this experiment was that when all space is taken. When all social roles are filled. The stress experienced by the individuals in that narrow space will result in a total breakdown in complex social behaviors. Eventually, resulting in the demise of the population.

From my desk:

• The Myth of The 1% Better Every Day Theory: Every self-respecting self-help junkie trying to master self-improvement has surely heard the theory of becoming 1 percent better every day. After all, it has all the major components to become a buzzword: it’s easy to get, it offers groundbreaking results, and it’s distributed by some of the most famous writers. But does it really work?

From around the web:

• Has the Internet Reached Peak Clickability? This a piece predicting that soon the internet won't be so hip and we'll be back to our old ways of living - going outside and talking to people.

Plan continuation bias

Plan continuation bias is a subtle cognitive bias accountable for nearly half of air crashes (42%).

The basic definition of the bias is that you persist in sticking to an already established plan of action in spite of changing conditions.

Instead of aborting when the situation alters. The common misconception is to stick to the planned course even if this might lead to a fatal disaster.

"Ah, we are so close. We should definitely proceed. The weather will get better..."

That is probably what an airline pilot tells himself when he unexpectedly encounters bad weather. But instead of diverting to another location. He decides to take a shot at landing on the scheduled destination.

The two main factors that lead to this faulty state of thinking are:

• Overly optimistic estimation of the outcome: Yes, optimism can hurt.
• Personal responsibility: It's difficult to admit that you are wrong if you are personally accountable for a project.

When I was writing the above column - about the behavioral sink. The more I thought about it. The more I related the concept to my growing inability to concentrate. The more the sources of distraction increase around me. The harder it becomes for me to concentrate on a particular source.

Thank you for your time!

Regards,

Ivaylo Durmonski

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