TAMED COURSE 
The Tamed Course it's a habit building course that consists of a series of videos in which the author focuses on breaking bad habits by giving all your energy to create new ones. It has 3 main parts.
- Habits
- Self-Discipline through Willpower
- Human needs and Habits
I. How Do Habits Work?
All habits follow a certain pattern that can be divided into three items:
1. Cue
2. Routine
3. Reward
Cue: It's what triggers the habbit to be made. Ex: when you feel boredom you look at your phone
Routine: It's the habit itself. Ex: browsing social media, fapping, meditating, etc...
Reward: It's what your brain is seeking by doing the habit. Ex: in case of porn addiction it can vary from stress relieff, helping you sleep, social validation, etc...
It is impotant to get to know our triggers and rewards because this way we can associate those cues and rewards with better habits which is the main goal of the course
For example, if I feel the urge of masturbating while being not able to sleep at night then I just found my cue and my reward would be to fall asleep. By knowing this I can replace the habit with an ASMR video that helps me fall asleep.
II. Biggest Misconceptions About Habits
1. It takes 21 days to form a habit. Depending on how hard the Routine is it can take anywhere from 2w (15d) to 9m (273d) with an average of 2m (66d)
2. Relapsing means you lost all your progress. If you relapse once then there is no loss in you progress but after that if you relapse from 2 times in a row loss grows exponentially.
2d = 1w lost
1w = 1m lost
1m = all progress lost
III. How To Properly Build Good, Strong Habits
- Pick a good cue
The cue that you pick should:
a) appear everysingle day
b) be unavoidable
c) help you start your routine
d) be just one cue
For example, you are thirsty everyday which meets (a) so you cannot live without water (b) in my case I use my first glass in the morning and my last in the evening which is a peaceful time of the day to meditate (c)
- Know how to handle your routine
Important note:
In order to do any activity we need willpower and the more demanding the activity is, the more willpower it requires to do it. But willpower is limited that's why some days we "don't feel like it" and we drop our habits.
Our goal is to bring the habit to automatic mode so the perfect routine to make it automatic as fast as possible is a routine that contains the following:
Low bar:
This is used when your levels of willpower are low. It's the least amount of work you can put into a habit and still follow it.
Ex: if you meditate for 1 minute you're still doing the routine which means you're closer to make it automatic which is our #1 priority.
High bar:
When you have normal levels of willpower you use it to get the most benefits out of your habit.
Ex: if you're reading your goal should be to read like an entire chapter then you'd advance the most
- Pick a good reward
The reward should:
a) arrive inmediatly (or soon) after the routine
b) be pleasurable (like primitive rewards)
For example, I use the reward of reading two chapters of a romantic manga I really enjoy reading (b) after meditating in the morning and evening (a)
Link to TAMED COURSE:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE_vQWWxgaiH1Xcri6_WJDZnC_XezkyAO
I. Facts about Willpower
1. Willpower is like a muscle
The more you exercise the muscle, the bigger it gets but also the more tired it is throughout the day.
2. Willpower is like a battery
We start with a certain amount of it and it decreases the more mental tasks we do. We can recharge it and if the battery is low it won't work well.
When levels of willpower are low it's called Ego Depletion. Some side effects are:
- Becoming more emotional (less rational)
- Becoming impulsive
- It's harder to make right decisions
So it's easier to come back to your old, bad habits
II. Being Efficient With Willpower
Two things that drain our willpower battery are:
- Mental Processes
- Resisting urges
You can avoid this by creating automation sistems.
You can avoid this by:
a) changing your environment. Going for a walk, getting out of bed, etc
b) becoming mindful of the urge. Think actively of how you're feeling
- Decision Fatigue
You can avoid this by a) planning ahead through implementation intention (if x happens I'll do y)
b) (in the case of sticking to your own habits) loving the habit
III. How To Recharge our Willpower
- Biologically (30%)
- Psycologycally (70%)
A. Eating Low-Glycemic Food
B. Switching from Focused to Diffuse Mode
C. Sleeping
A. Chunking
Breaking a task into tiny tasks that require little to no willpower to do
B. Tracking your progress to boost your confidence
C. Change your identity with language
D. Thinking high-level thoughts
Like long-term goals and the reasons why you do what you do
All humans have to have this 6 human needs fullfilled in order to have a good life, free from bad habits
1. Certainty. To know what to expect from the future. This is extremely important in regards of income.
Not having this needs fullfilled can cause us to turn into bad habits that will give what we are loking for
We can counter-strike this by making habits with predictable rewards
2. Variety. Having some new exciting experiences rather than just living like a robot with the same routine.
We can add excitement by:
a) meeting new people
b) trying new things
c) having interesting hobbies
d) visit new places
3. Significance. We need to feel like we matter.
A way to gain significance is by becoming the person you dream to become.
4. Love/Connection. To develop strong connections with other people.
If we improve our general comunication skills we will become better at our social life, thus in this area.
5. Growth. We need to see we are growing in certain aspect of our lives.
If you develop a habit where you see yourself making progress or anything like that then this area is fullfilled.
6. Contribution. We actually feel happier when we give value to others.
If you help your friends and family,
if you do comunity service
and if you work on yourself you contribute to a better world.