Precommitments

How to get difficult, scary and challening things done? One method that I learned in Nick Winter’s great book “The Motivation Hacker” is precommitment. The idea is basically that you pre-announce what you plan to do publicly, to as many people as possible. For instance, if I tell my friends that from now on I will stop using plastic bags, I look pretty stupid if the next week my friend finds me carrying my groceries in a plastic bag from the supermarket.
 
I tried this approach a few days ago during our cross country time trial. So we had a 2,000m time trial, but I really wanted to improve my personal best time over 2,400m. So I told the coach and some other runners that I am going to try to hit my target for 2,000m and then continue to run another round. So when I came close to finishing 2,000m I was super-tired, but my precommitment and knowing how uncomfortable I would feel if I stopped kept me going. And I beat my personal best by 4 seconds!
 
Another application of this approach might be to pre-announce to your parents and people you respect (to make it more scary) that you will score A in all modules next semester. In his book, Nick Winter describes a number of other approaches to hack your motivation, but this post is about precommitment, my precommitments to do things that are good and important.
 
Initially, I was going to call this page “My impossible goals”. But some of those, especially the scientific ones, are kind of difficult to post here (because my colleagues might read it). So I decided to only post things that I am currently committing to. But nonetheless, coming up with an Impossible Goal list is a great thing to do. Doing this has given me so much motivation and really made a big difference in my life. Suddenly, my life has gotten a purpose again. And amazingly, I have already achieved a couple of my “impossible” goals.
 
 
MY PRECOMMITMENTS:
Fighting plastic waste
 
Coming from the world champion recycle country in the world, it is merely unbelievable how much plastic is used and wasted in Singapore. But what is even more unbelievable is how thoughtless many people are about using plastic, being perfectly happy to use one double-bag for an average of three or so groceries and then dumping all the plastic bags immediately in the next (regular) rubbish bin. I havn’t been using plastic bags for some time now (except those that I get from friends/family if they give me things or if I buy things online). So if I did not bring a bag, I have to either carry my things or not buy. This has been very effective in helping me to remember to take my own bag everywhere. I also don’t use take-away food containers abnymore but bring my own containers.
 
But I feel it is time to commit to a few more things. First, no more buying of cans and plastic bottles. I don’t really drink canned drinks anyway, so this one is easy. Water bottles – we get a lot without wanting them, to be honest. And I usually re-use them, which of course is not recommended, as repeated washing and re-use releases chemicals (bisphenol A and the like). But I have finally decided to go out and buy (and use) a proper water bottle.
 
One really annoying thing to me are the small plastic bags that are used for bakery goods, baos, curry puffs etc. I have actually started using my small pastry container for this.
 
But the frustrating thing has been when I actually request to place the things into my container, the person behind the counter would take a new bag to grab the pastry or bread, put it into the container and then throw the bag. It drives me mad! But I guess I will keep doing it to make the point.
 
I of course realise that this is only the tip of the iceberg. What about all the excessive plastic packaging the food in the supermarket. Recycling is great (except most people don’t do it), but do we need them in the first place? Well, I have not thought of ways to attack this, except I have decided to boycott apples in plastic containers (this was a hard decision, because I eat a lot of apples and the one in plastic are usually the cheapest ones).
Sorry, I cannot buy you anymore:
 
The way to buy apples:
 
Plastic-less supermarket are possible!
BBC: How to shop in a plastic-free supermarket
Also now possible in Singapore!
 
Of course, there are always those who argue, what difference does one person make. The usual reply is of course that we need to start somewhere, and it is always good to start with ourselves. It is even better to also do things that bring about changes in our society and community! But here is my thought. Things in the environment are bound to get worse, and one day your children might ask you, mom or dad, how could you have been so thoughtless to make things so bad for our generation. What are you going to reply?
No more sugar in tea for me
 
Ok, this has been on my to-do list for a long time. But I finally did it, after failing many times. It wasn’t that hard actually, and I got used to it so I now even prefer tea without sugar (and couldn’t bear the thought of drinking the so-popular sweetened ice lemon tea or green tea). Of course, ideally I would like to extend the no-sugar commitment to other foods (no more chocolate?), but these are really hard for now.
Update December 2019: I have started eating my bread without jam, which is a big step towards a sugar free diet for me!
No more meat for me
 
This has been a very ad-hoc decision, when I read an article in Science or Nature, I can’t remember, about a scientist who felt very strongly about the suffering of animals to satisfy our desire for meat, as well as about the excessive environmental costs of meat production (which is a terrible word). The thing is this, as scientists we often rightly argue that animal experimentation is necessary. By logical extension, I feel I should also acknowledge that animal raising for food consumption is unnecessary. And this was the main reason for deciding to go meat-less.
 
It turns out that there are other advantages. One is that life has become easier, because the food choices are often limited. So I don’t need to waste my time spending much time about what I am going to eat. And it keeps me from indulging in buffet lunches and dinners, which are usually quite unhealthy.
 
I do allow myself some exceptions here. If I unknowingly buy food that contains meat, I will not throw it away (but I won’t buy it again). If I am out with friends over dinner (which doesn’t happen that often) and there are only meat containing dishes available, I won’t spoil the party for everyone. And lastly, I am not going to make my parents suffer when I go home a couple of times a year and make them cook separate meals for me!
No more gossiping for 30 days
 
So I have just decided to take up this challenge, from now for 30 days, no more gossiping or talking bad about someone in their absence. And I hope after 30 days, it will become an automatic habit.
 
Like most people I guess, I have been quite guilty of this, but it is a really bad and destructive habit…
 
Stephen Covey (“The seven habits of highly effective people”) on integrity:
               
One of the most important ways to manifest integrity is to be loyal to those who are not present. In doing so, we build the trust of those who are present. When you defend those who are absent, you retain the trust of those present.
Suppose you and I were talking alone, and we were criticizing our supervisor in a way that we would not dare to if he were present. Now what will happen when you and I have a falling out? You know I’m going to be discussing your weaknesses with someone else. That’s what you and I did behind our supervisor’s back. You know my nature. I’ll sweet-talk you to your face and bad-mouth you behind your back. You’ve seen me do it.
 
That’s the essence of duplicity. Does that build a reserve of trust in my account with you.
 
On the other hand, suppose you were to start criticizing our supervisor and I basically told you I agree with the content of some of the criticism and suggest that the two of us go directly to him and make an effective presentation of how things might be improved. Then what would you know I would do if someone were to criticize you to me behind your back?
 
Dale Carnegie: “Never say anything bad about anyone. Ever.”.
Do some sports everyday
 
This has been a big one for me. And the most important outcome for me is my mental health. It really feels so good to have worked out in some way. It refreshes your mind and erases a lot of worries, stress and upset feelings.
 
One obvious question is doesn’t it take up a lot of time. But what I find is that although it does take time, it usually takes up the time that I would normally end up wasting and procrastinating. And I do plan and conduct my daily activities differently if I need to fit in time for exercise.
 
I do allow myself some exceptions here, too, like one day of rest per week and also to make up for missed exercise by doing more than one activity per day on weekends! This made this commitment quite sustainable, even during stressful periods.
 
 
1.Fly only maximally 3 times a year.
2.Buy maximally one piece of new clothes per month.
3.Buy maximally one piece of non-clothes things per month.