Greg is a 2013 blogging resident, visiting us from his home blog over at On the Spiral. His residency will explore the theme “Individuality and Decision-Making” over several posts.
A couple weekends ago, during a break in the scheduled programming at Refactor Camp, I was walking around with Kartik Agaram and as we passed by a concession stand he off-handedly remarked: “I know things are going well when I can walk by something like that without experiencing any temptation.” This was one of those statements that easily eludes our cognitive filters, but it becomes rather perplexing when you begin to tease it apart.
Why should temptation be easier to resist when things are going well?
What does it even mean for “things” to go well?
There are easy answers like – when we are preoccupied with more engaging tasks, temptations are perceived as relatively less appealing. However, the easy answers are easily contradicted. Sometimes when things are going well we are so preoccupied that we find ourselves guzzling coffee and eating take-out every night. Apparently things need to be going well in a particular way in order for temptation to diminish. [Read more…]