My ex-boss completed his PhD thesis with author of this doc as his advisor. So some of the ideas seem relevant since they popped up in few of the work related conversations with my boss.
I can totally relate to points articulated in first and second paragraph.
It took me something harsh and physical event to realize how much I've not been myself. It prompted me to give up everything dear but unncessary and unproductive things for a short term as a punishment for myself.
It worked. It showed results (albeit in short-term) and then I started journalling reports about myself. Having a honest conversation of what works and what consequences I have of acting from impulsive thinking and drifting away from my real life goals.
This is 4th month since I made the pivot and so far things are definitely better. I think its mainly a battle between your brain's system 1 and system 2. You gotto do things that system 2 has thought and planned out. Because system 1 can be irrational and get us into doing things that only have short term benefit.
This may not be news to everyone. The Economist have started sharing their data on Github [0]. I wonder if this is one-off publication of data or it is general trend to share their data publicly. A welcome move.