Why You Knew Better and Did It Anyway

We usually explain regret as knowing better but lacking discipline. This episode argues something more useful: in a hot state, the values on your internal scoreboard change.I connect Epictetus with hot-cold empathy gaps, self-control replication research and implementation intentions. Then I give you a four-minute handover note: one specific if-then plan, written while you can still see clearly, for the version of you who will not realise their judgement has changed.Sources and further reading:- Epictetus, Discourses 1.28- Seneca, Letters 76.34-35- George Loewenstein, “Hot-Cold Empathy Gaps and Medical Decision Making” (2005)- Hagger et al., “A Multilab Preregistered Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect” (2016)- Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran, “Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement” (2006)- Keith Stanovich, Richard West and Maggie Toplak, work on myside bias and rational thinkingFree 7-Day Stoic Challenge: stoicchallenge.coThe Stoic Vault: stoicvault.com