VIP - Vaccines, Indicators, Practices.
VIP is an alternative method to achieve some desired result. Traditionally, when we want to e.g. lose weight, we tend to give self strict limits: eat less, train hard, run every morning, etc. And then we find ourselves breaking our “rules” first day after planning. Because we don’t have power of will? Maybe. But i think we start too harsh on ourselves in the first place. We jump from a garden pool to the sea of sharks straightaway. No significant change is made in one day, one week, one month. It is a continious process. It is a result of a discipline, which starts with doing small things every day, then gradually increasing the workload as you get accustomed.
VIP starts with a definition of a goal. A goal should be clear, and you should understand why you need this. For example: “Lose 10kg of weight”. Why? Feel confident? Or feel healthy? Or, more philosophically, have your body more connected with your mind?
Once a goal is defined, you set several daily practices you think will help you moving closer to your goal. For example: “Do 2km morning run”. Practice is not a thing to do “100%” of time. It’s recommended to be done daily, but you shouldn’t force yourself. Instead, you maintain a table of practices: rows are days, cols are practices, intersections are flags - checked if a practice is done that day, unchecked otherwise. This way you modulate your behaviour by observation, not by force application. A practice may be not directly connected to your goal, at a first glance. For example, if you want to learn to do a perfect jab-punch, you may set a daily practice “Do 100 jumprope jumps”.
Additionally, you can define vaccines. These are one-time things that needs to be performed in order to move closer to your goal. For example: “Place Arnold Schwarzenegger poster for motivation”.
And, finally, you define indicators. These are measurement fields you fill daily to track your progress. For example “Measured weight”. This also might be some subjective information, like “Estimated mood: 5⁄10”. Such information might not be directly connected with your practices, but it may help you to find patterns between completing a practice and an indicator result.
VIP helps you to look differently to approach your goals. Observation instead of forcing. Research yourself on daily basis, don’t push completion of practices, but keep filling the data. Doing such observation consistently can assist you in integrating the desired behaviour into your life, or, at least, can help to find alternatives.