Helen

I/O practitioner. Yoga teacher. Girl mom. Advocate for fairness, discernment, science, and generally not being a d***.

[Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel]

Psychologists who study self-control have found that the best approach for achieving goals is called "situation change." This means avoiding temptation by changing your surroundings and environment, rather than relying on our rather flimsy willpower to resist it.

Situation change can involve removing tempting foods from your home if you are trying to diet, deleting social media apps if you are trying to reduce your screen time, or blocking off time on your calendar for specific goals.

Situation change also involves paying attention to your social circumstances and leveraging the influence of those around you to help achieve your goals. For example, joining a writing group can provide accountability and support for aspiring writers.

We did this ourselves when we were writing our book, “The Power of Us.” We set weekly meetings, blocking off time to write together. We met in cafés to argue over stories, studies, and turns of phrase. Working together created both social accountability and social support.

This also seems to work nicely for physical activities. For instance, “Runners who had group activities in January 2022 recorded 78 percent more active time than those who ran solo.” Working out with others has at least three significant benefits: accountability, support, and community. In other words, you’ll be in better shape and build friends at the same time!

Larger groups can create social norms that push us in the direction of our goals. For instance, we have joined book clubs and writing clubs to help us read more books and stick to our writing goals. Indeed, the social norms of these groups are an essential ingredient for collective success.

In one recent study, researchers compared whether establishing a social norm against using technology in class would help university students resist the temptation to multitask while listening to lectures. They found that students who were in a course with a clear social norm against using technology spent only about 10% of their time multitasking, compared to 24% for students who had personal resolutions not to use technology.

Social norms clearly trumped willpower!

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[Helen @helenfromTX]

@MaxFalken @jayvanbavel @a_baronca @zollofab @Walter4C @JurgenPfeffer Would be interesting to see if you can find similar patterns in physical social networks over the last couple thousand years during times of peace and war.

[Jamie Raskin @jamie_raskin]

Oops. Nikki Haley let the cat out of the bag! Trump and GOP added $7.8 trillion to the national debt. They gave the store away to the super-rich and spent us into the ground! #GOPDebate

[Helen @helenfromTX]

When was the last time @PONDband played Holding out for You live? #dallas @treesdallas

[Helen @helenfromTX]

@TVSTOE Love this so much

[Alex 🏳️‍⚧️ @SleepyOktobur]

I have reinstalled Twitter to respond to this story and make sure my voice is fully heard. I am Casey.

My real name is Alex but my mom decided it would be best to hide it for anonymity. But this is my story, not hers. This is not the free press’s story.

[Helen @helenfromTX]

@MichaelSladky2 @ReallyAmerican1 The people- not “the government”- want stricter gun control measures.

[Helen @helenfromTX]

@kenklippenstein Great long-term strategy right there! It’s almost as if he wanted a quick win and didn’t care about the impact down the road. Ever. For anything.

[Helen @helenfromTX]

@dffeldon I wonder if undiagnosed ADHD, access to mental health resources, etc would moderate this relationship. The ability to channel a burst of cog energy into a single test is diff from ability to sustain it over a multi-year period culminating in a loosely defined, long-term project.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

China sees Russia as a gas station and as a drunkenly piloted icebreaking ship that causes chaos & weakness in the free world that China is happy to exploit at little risk. Openly aiding Putin’s war on Ukraine would be a huge and perilous step. https://t.co/X2NR92M1cK

[blaire erskine @blaireerskine]

well he was kinda fucking his uncle

[Helen @helenfromTX]

@ArcTheCad @stefaniamelia @paulisci 💯

[Helen @helenfromTX]

@RepBrianMast @JacksonLeeTX18 Gross

[Helen @helenfromTX]

About to play the game of, “Is my brain ready to focus now?” at my fave coffee shop.

[The Hoarse Whisperer @TheRealHoarse]

I wrote about my ADHD, country roads, and a nemesis who loves the open road.

Free to read.

I'm undyingly thankful for your shares, subscriptions, and support. Every bit helps.

https://t.co/o4X4GSGHAJ

[Secretary Antony Blinken @SecBlinken]

Congratulations to the Brazilian people for exercising their right to vote and reaffirming the strength of their democracy. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with President-Elect @LulaOficial as we build a democratic, prosperous, and equitable hemisphere.

[Reuters Politics @ReutersPolitics]

Brazil election authority calls presidential race with Lula ahead https://t.co/bgV35lY5ZA

[Helen @helenfromTX]

Brazil election: Lula wins over right-wing Bolsonaro : NPR https://t.co/IE1wI4BXRM

[follow @bencollins on bluesky @oneunderscore__]

Okay everybody it's Zero Hour for this website, post your favorite tweets and give them a little kiss goodbye.