The Odysseus principle is taken from the story of the Odyssey where the hero, Odysseus has his men tie him to the mast of the ship so that as they sail past the sirens, he can hear them sing, without being driven into madness which would result in the ship crashing into the reefs.

The Odysseus Principle relies on an understanding that at times when we are not thinking clearly we may need to make decisions. Therefore, people should make agreements with themselves about how to behave prior to needing to make a decision.

For me, I was having trouble with diet and exercise so I just started meal prepping and working out every day after work for about an hour.

By meal prepping, I’ve already decided what I will eat and it’s always lean meat, a sauce, and some vegetables or quinoa. The problem has been solved.

We can apply this to many areas of life. If we want to stop scrolling we can remove social media and news apps from our phones, and if we want to write instead, we can install writing apps, and plan when to do the writing during the day.

If we want to read more, we can bring the book we’d like to read and place it where we sit and scroll instead. If we must scroll, we can scroll for books to read, art to look at, or other positive things rather than doom and gloom.

If we want to save more money, we can set limits to our cards, set savings transfers to happen automatically, and remove shopping apps from our phones, making us have to physically sit at a computer to shop for things.

There are lots of ways to use the Odysseus Principle, but it starts with objectively looking at your life and goals and making decisions while lucid, then building routines, and destroying temptations before you meet them.