Becoming Eden

Author: Will

  • IFS Unpacked Recap

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    On Tuesday, Divia and I did our first webinar on Internal Family Systems, a therapeutic technique that we’ve both gotten a lot of mileage out of. We briefly covered the model and some theory about how we think it works, followed by a live demonstration, and then a Q&A. This time we actually did record…

  • Lessons From (and For) the Quantified Self Movement

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    The very first time I heard about Quantified Self I was excited by the world of possibilities contained therein. I pride myself on my self-awareness, and it seemed like adding quantitative rigor to this process would allow me to uncover new patterns below my current awareness – and ideally, to change them. Besides, I liked…

  • The Exploration/Exploitation Framework

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    We all have a variety of mental models that we use to interpret the world around us. In many cases we have very specific models, e.g. I know that turning the key in the ignition makes my car turn on, and this does not assist me very much in my understanding of the world. At…

  • How to Network Effectively

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    Networking is a critically important skill. There is a great phrase that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time around. For humans, most of our environment is the social environment. Your ability to interact with others, and who those other people are, is most likely going to be your…

  • Ten Ways to Change Your Behavior Immediately #10: Actively Recover and Try Again

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    Will
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    Suppose you have tried everything above and you still can’t seem to bring yourself to work.  First, I want you to repeat step two and show yourself a little compassion.  Did you do that?  Good.  I’ll bet you’re feeling better already! So given that you can’t seem to get yourself to work, what should you…

  • Ten Ways to Change Your Behavior Immediately #9: Commit to One Minute

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    The hardest part of any task is getting started – or maybe even before getting started, while you’re still busy worrying about doing the task instead of getting it done!  Luckily inertia works in both directions: once you’re already underway with a project you realize it isn’t nearly as bad as you originally thought.  So…

  • Ten Ways to Change Your Behavior Immediately #8: Break it into Sub-Steps

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    Will
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    One of the most common causes of procrastination is that the task at hand feels incredibly daunting – the project is so large that it seems impossible to complete.  Somehow even thinking about the project makes you feel tired!  When you imagine the project it feels like a giant monolith in your mind, leaving you…

  • Ten Ways to Change Your Behavior Immediately #7: Be Mindful

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    Will
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    The most common response to encountering resistance is to try harder, feeling a host of negative emotions about the situation, and retreating into thoughts that cycle repeatedly with no resolution in sight.  By now you may have experienced this resistance so often that it feels like is just the way the world is, that it…

  • Ten Ways to Change Your Behavior Immediately #6: Turn it into a Game!

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    Will
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    Work couldn’t possibly be fun… or could it?  The very word conjures up images of endless factory lines with single repetitive tasks for hours on end, or row upon row of cubicles with people chained to their desks…  Of course this is all very melodramatic, but you get the point: work is not something that…

  • Ten Ways to Change Your Behavior Immediately #5: Use Curiosity

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    Will
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    The most natural thing in the world is to get stuck in our usual patterns.  We do the same thing day in and day out and it becomes a habit, it feels incredibly easy or maybe even right to take the same action.  Each time we follow the path of least resistance we create a…