How to Change: Building Better Habits and Behaviors (And Getting Out of Your Own Way)
Read time: 1.5 min
Big Idea
Overcome psychological and behavioral barriers to achieve personal goals by using strategies like temptation bundling, technological reminders, and commitment devices; apply correct framing and feedback, break down goals into “bite-sized” components; and use social connections for accountability and enjoyment.
Top Thoughts
Increase task completion by breaking down large tasks into smaller, manageable goals for project management, quarterly objectives, long-term corporate planning, etc.
Use accountability systems to motivate individuals to achieve their goals. Working with people who make tasks enjoyable increases productivity and accountability and promotes team building and project collaboration.
Use temptation bundling, linking a “chore” with a source of temptation and pleasure and instant gratification, to increase engagement.
Use continuous feedback to monitor goal progress and implement real-time feedback loops to evaluate performance on a team and company level.
Quick Quotes
“If you encourage people to pursue their goals in a way that they find fun as opposed to a way that’s maximally efficient, you actually end up with better results… if you’re doing something you enjoy, you’re going to keep it up and your results will be better in the long run.”
“Reframe that big commitment into a more bite-sized component so that it feels approachable and you know exactly what you want to check off and achieve this week or in this next two weeks. And what we found is just reframing those goals led to about an 8% increase in volunteering over and above what they were achieving normally.”
“Commitment devices, tools of accountability, are really important to keep in mind for yourself. Again, we’re used to others doing it. Someone else sets the deadline and says or else or finds us, but you can do the same thing to incentivize yourself to follow through on your best intentions so that when temptation strikes there’s more skin in the game, there’s more consequence if you give into it.”
Actionable Advice
Implementing task breakdown and accountability partners - Break down large tasks, use commitment devices to self-regulate and assign accountability partners to help team members stay on track.
Source(s)
Milkman, K., & Abrahams, M. (2023, August 30). How to Change: Building Better Habits and Behaviors (And Getting Out of Your Own Way). [Podcast, Youtube Video]. Stanford Graduate School of Business. (Link)
