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Comment by rprospero | Hacker News Reader

True. However, the problem is that that disclaimer is often a used as a loophole for not giving useful advice.

For instance, here's a foolproof plan to ensure that every piece of software that you write is 100% bug free. If you follow these two, simple steps, every piece of software you ever write will be perfect on the day it's delivered.

All you need to do is:

1. Write a program that looks through your source code and finds all the bugs in it.

2. Fix all those bugs.

I keep telling this to people, but they're so stubborn that they won't make these two changes in their build process. So, if you ever find a bug in someone's software, know that it's not because coding bug free programs is hard. It's because they don't have the self-discipline to follow through on my simple prescription.

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On the one hand, I see what you mean and have some empathy for this position. On the other hand, it's very telling that you used a Herculean feat in your analogy: it suggests to me that you perceive the act of adopting some new habits as also being a Herculean feat.

I don't see it this way. Of course, I spent over a decade in my youth studying a musical instrument, and I think that experience taught me how easy it is to program new habits into the human mind. It all boils down to a little repetition, but also entails making sure that you're not repeating bad habits. ("Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.")

Sometimes it takes a little faith, but things do become automatic if you repeat them for surprisingly little amount of time, and this ends up reducing your cognitive load so that you can move on to focusing on new aspects.

I've lost a significant amount of weight twice (> 80lbs) and, externally, I seem to have also changed my behavior in a substantial way. I am a much better student than I was before in part because of my own motivation and determination. As determined as I am though, I still run into academic problems. Is it because of my own work ethic? I don't think so.

I don't perceive losing weight to be a herculean feat, but that's because I have shown myself that it's something I can overcome. Changing how my mind works? Is that a herculean feat? I don't know, but I seem to have difficulties with it which I cannot immediately work around with a "little repetition."

Please give me a time in your life when you've been able to make a significant intellectual change from just "a little repetition" and "making sure that you're not repeating bad habits."

I would entertain your challenge without preamble if it were not based on a premise that I do not accept: specifically, that any of this has to do with changing how your mind works. I understand that many perceive it that way, but I do not.

Rather, I see it as leveraging how my mind works. Note how this is almost exactly the opposite world view. I accept that my mind includes within it a mechanism for habit automation. Of course that is only one of many tools in the metacognitive toolbox. Another powerful tool is the ability to be brutally honest with yourself about what your priorities are in practice, what you think they should be, and recognizing when your actions are working against the priorities you would like to have. There are more. Metacognition is a bottomless pit of bootstrapping power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacognition

A year ago, after coming to grips with the fact that having a toddler and a relationship meant that I was no longer getting time for myself, I made myself a morning person. I went from a life-long habit of dragging myself out of bed just in time to rush to work to someone who routinely gets out of bed at 5am and does something productive for myself before my son wakes up. Brutal honesty about my priorities and about a month of consistent practice.

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