Academic types like to use jargon, and often, made up jargon. They also write books. Those books have some of the best ideas and I must read them! Even though I liked coming across new ideas, I found myself detesting the unnecessary use of large words and convoluted sentences in these books written by professors, researchers and law people.

Consider the topic: Prefactual Thinking Prefactual is Pre and Fact. Before the fact. Prefactual Thinking is thinking before the fact. Or as the rest of us call it: anticipation.

The going got smoother after I unwound the jargon.

The original idea appears to come from Lawrence J. Sanna in 1998. The gist of the idea is if you anticipate many outcomes from your decision, then it gives you a better chance to succeed. Jeremy Dean explores this concept in habit forming.

Say, I want eat healthy, then I must use Prefactual Thinking, or anticipate the times I eat unhealthy foods such as snacks. By anticipating my habit to reach for snacks, say in the afternoon, I can do the following:

keep cut fruit in the fridge that is ready to eat
keep the pantry stocked with nuts instead of chips
remind myself how much I love apples

I expanded the use of anticipation to overcome dissatisfaction as I build new habits. More on that another day.