For 25 years in IT, a lot of my job was writing scripts so a machine could handle things without me.
One of my favorite structures to write was the simplest one.
If, then.
For example:
If the disk gets more than 90 percent full, then clear the old logs and page me.
Simple. When a condition is met, execute an action.
Here’s what I loved about it.
The machine never renegotiates.
It doesn’t wake up tired.
It doesn’t decide that today the disk being full isn’t really that big a deal.
It doesn’t wait until it feels ready.
Once I wrote the rule, it just runs.
People do the opposite.
We decide once that we’re going to do something, and then we make ourselves decide again every single time.
In the moment we decide we’re tired, or busy, and we talk ourselves out of it.
There’s a name for the fix.
A researcher named Peter Gollwitzer calls it an implementation intention, and it has the same shape.
If X happens, then I will do Y.
Not “I want to work out more.” Instead: if it’s 6 AM, then my shoes are on.
Not “I’ll get to that project.” Instead: if it’s Tuesday at 9, then I’m at my desk with the door closed.
A date on the calendar is an if, then.
You made the decision once so you don’t have to make it again at 6 AM when you feel like garbage.
What’s one thing you keep deciding about over and over?
Write the rule once.
If this, then that.
Then let it run.
~ Ricardo