Start here | Corpus | Home

The M-ZRT

The Morin Z-Reduction Task, Practical Example

Author: Florian Morin
Year: 2026
Type: Protocol / practical note
Version: v1.0

Canonical version: https://florianmorin.com/papers/M-ZRT-Practical-Example.html

Archives versions:
Figshare DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.31385281

Related protocol page:
https://florianmorin.com/papers/Morin-Z-Reduction-Task.html

Version history

v1.0 - Initial release.

Abstract

This page presents a practical example of the Morin Z-Reduction Task (M-ZRT). The central idea is that access to a distinct positive-affect regime can be blocked by evaluative monitoring, deliberate optimization, and explicit goal-tracking. The examples below are therefore intentionally short, low-structure, and framed to avoid turning the procedure into a performance method.

Video-game variant

The purpose of this version is to reduce rigidity in monitoring without making the attempt too legible to the monitor itself. It should not be approached as training, self-improvement, or a method to force an effect.

• Download Unreal Tournament, Quake, or a similar game.
• Open the game and remove the HUD in the options.
• Keep the body relatively loose, especially jaw and shoulders.
• Play without trying to win or be competitive.
• Move the shoulders briefly, with no rhythm, while playing.
• Drink a sip of coffee.
• Continue a little if desired, then close the game and do not evaluate the result.
• Keep sessions around 1 to 2 minutes, space them by about 24 hours, and skip days randomly.

Failure conditions

• You analyze the task while doing it or immediately after.
• You repeat it too long or too often.
• You try to optimize or improve the protocol.
• You do it explicitly to obtain an effect.
• You evaluate whether you performed it correctly.
• You use too much coffee, use coffee every time, or keep the timing too fixed.
• You repeat the micro-movement multiple times or for too long.

Cartoon variant

This version follows the same logic, but uses an audiovisual stream instead of a game environment.

• Launch the selected cartoon video.
• While it plays, occasionally click random spots on the timeline without trying to find anything.
• Keep the body loose, especially jaw and shoulders.
• Move the shoulders briefly, with no rhythm.
• Drink a sip of coffee.
• Continue to watch a little if desired, then close the video and do not evaluate the result.
• Keep sessions short, roughly 1 to 2 minutes, with random skipped days.

One-time exercises

These are intended as one-time interventions rather than repeatable habits. Their value lies in uniqueness, low preparation, and non-optimization. Not more than two in a single day.

• Look at the time, then proceed as if you had not seen it.
• Start a music video, then close it as soon as it becomes enjoyable.
• Choose a deliberately sub-optimal video on YouTube.
• Ask a question internally and leave it unanswered.
• Form a simple mental image and let it fade without refreshing it.
• Open a book at random, read one paragraph, then jump to another page.
• Label an object, thought, or sound as “almost interesting.”
• Pick an object as the most important in the room without looking at it directly.
• In a noisy environment, treat one sound as central.
• Perform a precise but useless gesture and make zero corrections afterward.
• While walking, stop abruptly for no reason, then continue.
• Generate a feeling of recognition or approval with no recipient.
• Generate the internal sense that something important is about to happen.

Notes

• Reduce high-load obligations and socially evaluative situations on test days when possible.
• Reduce intrusive imagined social confrontations where possible.
• Avoid news, scrolling, comment sections, and metric-heavy social media before sessions.
• Reduce repeated time-checking and unnecessary muscular tension.
• Repeated exposure may reduce the probability of entry rather than increase it.
• Null sessions followed by sudden discontinuity are treated here as expected threshold behavior, not as gradual training failure.

Download

Download PDF

How to cite

Morin, F. (2026). The M-ZRT (Morin Z-Reduction Task): Practical Example. Canonical version: https://florianmorin.com/papers/M-ZRT-Practical-Example.html.

BibTeX

@article{morin2026mzrtpractical,
  title   = {The M-ZRT (Morin Z-Reduction Task): Practical Example},
  author  = {Morin, Florian},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://florianmorin.com/papers/M-ZRT-Practical-Example.html}
}

Back to corpus