Friday, September 02, 2011

Arbitrary Rules

Arbitrary rules can be powerful. They help overcome Inertia.

Seth Godin writes a blog post every day. That is an arbitrary rule. Does it really matter if he misses a day? Probably not, but it forces him to write every day. Eventually it becomes a habit... so it doesn't feel like force.

I am writing far less regularly than I would like. I realised this. I also realised that I had still written at least one blog post a month for quite some time. Hardly enough to form a habit, so fair to say that it doesn't compare to Seth's rule - and so is more arbitrary. But it was enough to force me to write one yesterday.

I used to use arbitrary rules to help me get through my studies. If a subject took 300 hours, I would break it down into the hours necessary per week and then plan how many to do each week. I would try stick to that. Again, maybe that is not arbitrary as it let me get to the end without any panic. The arbitrary part was that I would break it down into segments - study for 50 minutes, 10 minute break, repeat.

Why 50, why 10? No particular reason. It just seemed to help me get through.

Now, if the arbitrary rule gets in the way of something that is not arbitrary. That can be a problem. But otherwise, if it helps you get off the couch...


1 comment:

Stuart said...

I may be misinterpreting what Trevor said while chatting online on the subject.

I claimed that it wasn't the rules themselves that I poke fun at Trevor about, its how strictly he sticks to them. He suggested that sticking to the rules strictly maybe an example of a rule that makes sense.

I think there's a lot to be said for that and I'm *not* arguing. On the other hand, I think its obvious that one can go to far (and Trevor has brought up examples of his own).

So anyway, Trevor has been pretty hardcore about sticking to these arbitrary rules, though I think he's been loosening up recently.