The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types and 2 molecules
Boundary testing: the predictable, well-documented behavioral response to the removal of a previously available reinforcer, characterized by initial subtle probes that escalate into intensified attempts to elicit the old behavior, occurring during the extinction burst period when the system pushes back before recalibrating to new norms
Boundary erosion: the gradual process in which boundary-setters enforce boundaries inconsistently, teaching boundary-testers that sufficient pressure at the right moment will produce the desired response, resulting in increased resistance to future boundary-setting attempts
Change-back reaction: the predictable three-part sequence of 'You are wrong' - 'Change back' - 'Or else' that occurs when one member of a relational system begins to define a more independent self, representing the system's attempt to restore predictability and maintain equilibrium through emotional counterforce
Boundary flexibility: the capacity to adjust boundaries in response to genuine context-specific demands while maintaining the underlying value or function of the boundary, as opposed to rigid enforcement or reactive capitulation
Regulatory flexibility: the ability to shift between multiple regulatory strategies based on contextual demands, involving context sensitivity, repertoire of strategies, and feedback responsiveness, rather than applying a single strategy uniformly
Boundary adjustment: a deliberate modification of boundary parameters in response to genuine situational factors, as opposed to adjustment made in response to pressure or discomfort
Self-boundary: an internal limit on behavior, consumption, or tendencies that exists between the self and itself, requiring a fundamentally different enforcement mechanism than external boundaries because the enforcer and violator share the same nervous system, emotional states, and capacity for rationalization
Ulysses contract: a freely made decision in the present that constrains your choices in the future, built to make boundary violation physically or structurally impossible rather than relying on willpower or in-the-moment resolve
Pre-commitment structure: an architectural system or environmental modification that removes or increases friction around a boundary violation, making the boundary enforceable through structural constraints rather than relying on willpower or in-the-moment resolve
Boundary repair: the process of acknowledging a boundary violation, reasserting the boundary clearly, and addressing the damage caused by the violation, which includes three distinct phases: acknowledgment (naming what happened), reassertion (restating the boundary clearly), and addressing the damage (repairing what the violation cost)
Boundary modeling: the practice of consistently demonstrating boundary-setting behaviors in daily actions so that others can observe and learn from them, creating a social learning environment where boundaries become normalized and permissible within a group or organization
Commitment architecture: the structural systems that make sustained action possible even when willpower falters, motivation dips, and circumstances change
Willpower: a conscious, deliberate, effortful process that requires noticing choice points, recalling commitments, weighing options, and overriding easier paths, operating at the level of conscious choice rather than below it
Commitment device: any structure, arrangement, or mechanism you put in place now that makes it costly, difficult, or impossible for your future self to break a commitment later
Two selves: the planner who thinks about long-term outcomes and the doer who acts on immediate desires, operating as competing agents within the same individual
Public commitment: a commitment device that leverages social pressure from others who witness and can enforce follow-through on a behavioral commitment through reputational stakes, consistency pressure, and social facilitation mechanisms
Written commitment: a behavioral commitment that has been externally encoded in physical or digital form, making it concrete, reviewable, and confrontational to the future self, thereby transforming a mental event into a persistent artifact that activates consistency pressure and forces specificity
Commitment stacking: the practice of linking a new behavioral commitment to an existing reliable anchor behavior by forming a sequence 'After I [reliable anchor behavior], I will [new commitment scaled to two minutes or less]' that exploits the existing cue-response association to reduce the cognitive load of initiating new commitments through borrowed automaticity and behavioral momentum
Commitment: a structured, scoped action statement that specifies when, where, how much, how long, and what counts as done, enabling execution without interpretation or decision-making.
Commitment budget: a cognitive capacity management system that tracks active commitments like financial budgeting, allocating time and cognitive resources across life domains and requiring regular reassessment based on fluctuating capacity levels
Overcommitment: a chronic pattern of consistently taking on more commitments than one can reasonably fulfill, driven by systematic psychological mechanisms rather than random accidents or poor planning
Overcommitment pattern driver: a specific psychological mechanism that systematically produces overcommitment, operating at the level of self-regulation and manifesting through predictable behavioral signatures
Sunk cost trap: a cognitive bias where past investments (time, money, effort, emotion) that cannot be recovered influence current decisions to continue commitments, despite those investments being irrelevant to future outcomes
Fresh-eyes test: a diagnostic tool that evaluates whether a commitment should continue by asking if one would choose to begin it today with full knowledge of current conditions but no prior investment