Subject: Goal setting
Case Study: Dieting, habits
There's been chatter regarding the merits of goal setting in nvg, the psychology forum, and Negreanu's social media. Daniel is pro goals and benchmarks and Mason is not. I think there are some merits to goal setting but the total EV is probably negative if Mason says it is.
I could set caloric goals and track my weight versus expectation, but instead have been exploring eating based on strategy and only caring about the trend of getting healthier over time. Instead of focusing on the uncertain future, I base my eating plans on the previous meal; the entire day up until that point; what I ate yesterday; what I've eaten in the past week or so. I think of what I can eat that would best fit or disrupt the previous pattern: if my last meal had a lot of calories, I'll aim to eat less or delay the current meal; if I've eaten rather mediocrely in the week prior I'll seek to correct it, and if I've eaten very well I seek to maintain it, but am willing to eat poorly as well in this condition because the trend of getting healthier doesn't change in one meal. Ultimately I spend little energy being concerned with micro progressions because I'm confident that my strategy is working and I'm in a constant state of feeling like I'm winning
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I think if I were to have such things as a strict daily calorie goal, a regimented eating schedule, and weigh-ins for grade, that I might not be as happy to be dieting than I am currently. Whether or not these things would produce better results seems dubious as well.
The risk of not setting goals is ending up far off-track of where one should be, or ultimately settling for less than one's best. Someday I'll check out Mason's book and see what quantitative research says about it.