Nudge Yourself to a Better Life!

When I hear the term "nudge," my thoughts drift back to MSN Messenger, which was a popular chat application in the early 2000s. There, a user could "nudge" another to catch their attention.

MSN Messenger - Anno 2004

The feeling of receiving a nudge was a bit irritating—a combination of a shaking window and an unpleasant sound—but it often resulted in attention being directed to the person who nudged.

If you’re a man, there’s a good chance you’ve visited a urinal with a fake fly on it.

Did you aim for the fly?

Me too. In fact, research has shown that this little fly reduced urinal spillage by a whopping 80%(!).

Isn't that amazing?

What a fantastic example of a small, cost-effective change in the environment that positively influences our behavior without any negative consequences for ourselves.

This is nudging in the context of behavioral economics.

In 2008, Nobel Prize winner in economics, Richard H. Thaler, and Harvard professor Cass R. Sunstein wrote the fascinating book "Nudge - Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness." There, they introduced research building on Kahneman (another Nobel Prize winner) and Tversky's studies about System 1 (fast, automatic) and System 2 (slow, deliberate) thinking, and the pitfalls we often fall into when making decisions. Many of our decisions are irrational. They conflict with what we would have chosen if we were more aware of our options.

Thaler and Sunstein show in the book how we can leverage this to our advantage through nudging.

Nudging can be translated as "dulting" in Norwegian. A gentle push in the desired direction.

In this context, we can see a nudge as a small change in the environment, designed to alter people's behavior without changing the options or incentives.

In this article, I will describe some examples of nudging and offer some ideas on how you can nudge yourself to make better choices. Choices that can lead you to a healthier lifestyle, better finances, increased productivity, and improved relationships.

I will show you how to nudge yourself to a better life.

At the Societal Level

Since 2008, nudging has been applied in many areas with positive outcomes at the societal level.

Imagine receiving a reminder from the tax authorities to submit your tax return, along with a sentence stating that 97% of the population has already submitted theirs. It’s natural that you would not want to be among the 3% who haven’t submitted.

Or picture standing in line at a cafeteria, about to buy a drink. Do you think your choice will be influenced by the placement of different beverage options in the refrigerator? You’re right.

By moving soft drinks and energy drinks to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, sales of those items were reduced, benefiting water and juice.

In the UK, they've set up a Nudge Unit that designs and implements nudging experiments aimed at positively influencing people's behavior for the benefit of society.

They changed the pension system so that citizens had to explicitly opt out of membership in a pension scheme. Only 10% did so.

By exploiting the weaknesses of the brain, we can make better choices.

Choices that we genuinely want to make if we engaged in System 2 thinking to deliberately consider our options.

Choices where System 1 takes shortcuts for us.

Thus, we can "trick" System 1 into making better choices through small changes in our surroundings. And the best part? It requires no willpower.

I’m excited to see how politicians can use nudging to tackle huge problems like obesity (a ticking time bomb) and mental health issues. The potential at the macro level is vast.

But what about you and me?

Jordan Peterson’s rule six in "12 Rules for Life" is "Clean up your own room before criticizing the world."

Marcus Aurelius agrees.

We must start with ourselves.

Our actions are within our control.

How can you and I as individuals nudge ourselves to make better choices?

At the Individual Level

Each of us makes about 35,000 decisions each day. 98% of these are made by System 1, based on shortcuts, heuristics, or the result of our habits.

By making slight changes to our environment, we have the potential to alter some of the choices we make.

We can nudge ourselves to exercise more, eat healthier, be more mindful, and save more.

These choices can have a significant impact on how our lives unfold over time.

The effect of small choices over time is staggering.

Nudge Unit chief David Halpern also discusses System 2 nudging. This can be seen as information that enables us to make more thoughtful choices.

My article about Taking the Damn Stairs was a System 2 nudge to you. By attempting to describe the symbolic effect of taking the stairs, I hoped to influence you to make better choices. The hope is that the next time you face a decision between taking the stairs or the escalator, this article pops into your mind, engages System 2 of your brain, and helps you make a conscious decision rather than going on autopilot.

But where can we start? My personal approach has been to identify areas I want to change and pinpoint small actions that, when done regularly, have the potential for a large effect over time. An action with the potential to become a keystone habit.

One such action for me has been keeping a journal. After several years, this action has now become automatic. A habit. But at first, it wasn’t. I struggled for a while with sporadic writing before I could establish journaling as a routine. The key for me was twofold:

I placed my journal near the coffee maker so that I would be reminded of the opportunity to write. This was a System 1 nudge.

During this time, I read several articles and books on journaling to become more aware of its effects and the most appealing tactics for me. This was a System 2 nudge.

After a short period, the choice became more automatic and has since become a well-integrated part of my morning routine.

Exercise is another keystone habit I’ve incorporated into my morning routine. By having a kettlebell and two dumbbells readily available in my living room, I make the choice to fit in a quick workout easy and visible.

By hanging a weight vest in the hallway by the front door, I give myself a little nudge to wear the vest when, for example, going out with the family, which maximizes the benefits of the outing.

Diet is another area where nudging can help us make better choices. By using a shopping list, you can "protect" yourself from the nudging done by grocery stores to get you to buy the items they want you to purchase. Have you noticed how sweets are often placed closest to the checkout? This is, of course, not coincidental.

Another example is selling fruits and vegetables as snacks.

Similarly, we can simplify the choice to eat healthily by cutting fruits and vegetables into small, convenient pieces and placing them in a spot that makes them more appealing than other (less healthy) alternatives.

An alarm can be a helpful way to nudge yourself. I’ve set an alarm to send my wife a small note during the workday. This was a choice I wanted to make, but I often found it slipped my mind in favor of the workload ahead. With a simple alarm on my phone, I now do this more often.

A final area where nudging has been incredibly effective for me is saving. I used to think that I could save whatever was left over each month. That didn’t work out well. There was rarely much left over.

By setting up an automatic savings plan on the same day I receive my paycheck, I make the choice to save automatic. It’s happened that I’ve skipped saving one month if I knew I would have additional expenses, but then I had to adjust the automatic setting in my online bank. This makes it much easier to make the choice I truly want. It is now the "default" setting that is automatically executed unless I intervene.

Here's a list of several nudges that may be relevant to you:

• Install plants at home or in the workplace
• A post-it note on the computer screen about something you want to be mindful of throughout the workday
• Set a periodic alarm on your phone for something you wish to be reminded of
• Rearrange your refrigerator so that healthy options are at the front
• Buy smaller plates (if you want to lose a bit of weight)
• Set up an automatic savings plan or smart savings using apps like (Dreams or Kron)
• A fitness tracker (heart rate watch, etc.) that nudges you to move
• Polar's "Inactivity Alert"

Conclusion

Nudging can be a simple and effective way to help yourself make better choices. The potential upside is great, and the cost is low.

Do yourself a favor and think about what nudges you can set up to help you make a few better choices in your daily life.

Some better choices can make you a stronger version of yourself.

Do you have any examples or tips for nudges that others can benefit from?