// instruments · exits

exits

Decide the exit while you are calm. The calm version of you plans better than the flooded version — so let it choose the door in advance. State on the left, the one action on the right. Keep the card where the state finds you.

// state → one action · a few rows is enough

when — the state, named plainly

then — one pre-decided action

when — the state, named plainly

then — one pre-decided action

when — the state, named plainly

then — one pre-decided action

// the return — when none of the above fits

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// exits — decided while calm

the door is already chosen

when i'm spiraling late at nighttext J one line

when i've skipped meals two dayswalk to the park and back

when i open the trading app on a bad dayclose the laptop, lights off

if-then plan · decided before the moment, not during it (Gollwitzer, 1999) · keep it where the state finds you

// what this is, and isn't

Pre-commitment and if-then plans work because the decision is made before the moment, not during it (implementation intentions — Gollwitzer, 1999; a meta-analysis of 94 tests puts the effect at medium-to-large, d = .65 — Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006; pre-commitment — Elster, Ulysses and the Sirens, 1979). This is a planning tool, not therapy or a crisis service.

If a state feels unsafe, that calls for a person — see dangers.

Kin: alter-confabulation, auto-psychoanalysis, n of one, dangers.