Atomic Habits of Desire | Hacker News Reader

Atomic Habits of Desire

read.lukeburgis.com

73 pointsvitabenes7 comments

I procrastinate. I procrastinate a lot. This line hit so close to home

> “We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems.”

Instead of fighting the procrastination, I embrace it. Now whenever I lack the motivation to do what I ought to be doing, I pick one item on my procrastination list. Currently the list contains reading, stretching, sharpening kitchen knives and reading HN (consciously). Having the list forbid me from for example wandering on youtube or reddit, which I consider activities of absolute negative to zero return.

Having the system give me a good baseline to fall to which I find useful.

Time to back to work

> There’s nothing worse than pursuing a goal or working hard to develop a habit only to realize years later that it’s not the thing that we really wanted—that it was a socially-derived desire that we may have cared about for all of the wrong reasons.

Everyone has their own unique path in life. Part of that path is finding a dead end or a fork in the road to which one makes a new choice to continue on their path. Any place you don’t find a path is not wasted, but part of refining where to look next.

One day you might be on the right path and then the next instant it’s gone. You get fired, you lose a loved one, the company fails, you retire, you get dumped, etc. Where you thought you were going vanishes and who you thought you were is lost.

We have to accept that losing the path is part of the path. You can go back to find the last clear step you took on the path or explore to find a new one.

The author is specifically talking about paths taken in life that are not uniquely yours, but one that was taken "for all the wrong reasons".

It isn't about finding a dead end in a path you chose, it's about realising that YOU didn't make the decision at the fork, you simply did what OTHERS thought you should do without reflecting on the choice.

We can accept that losing the path is part of the path (which I agree with you on) while also being more thoughtful about how we go about following it.

We're saying the same thing here. The path of "for all the wrong reasons" is still part of your path is my point. The awareness of "why" you did it is similar to the story being hinted at with the graphic of "Emperor Has No Clothes" which represents someone who is brave enough to speak or ignore the mimetic desire will ultimately find clarity on their path earlier than others who only know to imitate in fear of not fitting in.

What freaks me out is how quickly people copy the behavior of other people. I mean just pay attention to your posture and when you drink water, and you will notice other people's posture and drinking coffee/water triggers you. It's scary how quickly people copy each other.

Informative and succinct. I coach clients on habit development as the foundation for transformation. I'm fascinated by how external environmental aspects, relations, and inputs shape my perspective and desires to quote the post: "We want what other people want because they want it". It's interesting to observe the origins of my desires and how that relationship and awareness has changed over the years.

``In the case of James Clear and I'' -- the implication being that it were grammatical to say ``in the case of I''.

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