Nice quote from Dan Ariely :
Technology gives us the ability to do noting, while feeling like we are actually doing something - a.k.a. structured procrastination

We are under the illusion that we don't have time,
while usually we don't have energy.
So we keep spending our time in low energy tasks
that sometimes are clearly useless,
and sometimes create the illusion of being useful
cause the relate on the surface level to our actual task,
e.g., browsing the internet for related papers,
browsing the internet for possible conferences to send a paper,
we are yet avoiding to finish writing.

Use the morning to `swallow some frogs'
and do the task you're avoiding that will make you feel awesome after it's done smile emoticon
.. while your energy levels are still relatively high.

Don't rely on willpower. Get into a `Ulysess contract' where
there will be consequences if you don't persist in what you've decided is important to you.

Commit to paying a 100$, for each week you watch too much TV (see stickk.com)

Dan Ariely tells a nice story about the `Denver Drug program'
where people would write a letter to their Mom saying
`Dear Mom, I've started using hard drugs'
The organization would keep the letter, give them surprise urine tests,
and send the letter if the tests were positive for drugs.

By the time you are in your 30s, even if you are not too rich,
you may have more dollars than healthy\free days..
don't trust that time supply in the hands of Mr. WillPower

https://vimeo.com/101559027

A man desired something - a person, a position.
He made an attempt to obtain it.
He had some level of success in obtaining it.
This process of trying to obtain what he desired brought a
mixture of pleasant feelings, disappointment, excitement, stress, sadness,
frustration, happy moments, euphoria.

He is left with the feeling that if he did a better job getting what he desired,
or if he was more lucky and things worked out perfectly,
he would have gotten only the subset of positive feelings from the list above,
and he would have kept feeling them, day after day, till he died.

He encounters Buddhist teachings.
They tell him - when the root of something
is desire - it is inevitable you will get the whole package,
the pleasant and the unpleasant.

He tries to believe this. He tries to go on with his life
without feeling he missed something perfect.

He listens to the news. He reads the interviews in the papers.
It seems like everybody feels they missed something perfect,
because of some bad luck, some injustice.

He rationalizes - well, so it's just everybody's illusion.
There is no perfection outside, only inside.

He tries to believe this. He tries to go on with his life
without feeling he missed something perfect.