How to make a Habit Irresistible

exaggerated cues as supernormal stimuli

your brain loses interest and you begin to feel full. But foods that are high in dynamic contrast keep the experience novel and interesting, encouraging you to eat more

Society is filled with highly engineered versions of
reality that are more attractive than the world our ancestors evolved in

Social media delivers more “likes” and praise in a few minutes than we could ever get in the office or at home

exaggerate features that are naturally attractive to us, and our instincts go wild as a result, driving us into excessive shopping habits, social media habits, porn habits, eating habits, and many others

If you want to increase the odds that a behavior will occur, then you need to make it attractive

we must start by understanding what a craving is and how it works.

The Dopamine driven feedback loop

the precise moment a craving occurs by measuring a neurotransmitter called dopamine

. The ability to experience pleasure remained, but without dopamine, desire died. And without desire, action stopped.

Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop

The same can be said for our most basic habitual behaviors like eating food, drinking water, having sex, and interacting socially.

dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it

Whenever you predict that an opportunity will be rewarding, your levels of dopamine spike in anticipation

whenever dopamine rises, so does
your motivation to act.

the reward system that is activated in the brain when you receive a reward is the same system that is activated when you anticipate a reward.

The dopamine Spike

100 percent of the nucleus accumbens is activated during wanting. Meanwhile, only 10 percent of the structure is activated during liking.

Desire is the engine that drives
behavior

Every action is taken because of the anticipation that precedes it.

It is the craving that leads to the response

We need to make our habits attractive because it is the expectation of a rewarding experience that motivates us to act in the first place.

Temptation bundling to make your habits more attractive

Temptation bundling works by linking an action
you want to do with an action you need to do.

Temptation bundling is one way to apply a psychology theory known as Premack’s Principle.

more probable behaviors will
reinforce less probable behaviors.

more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors.

Doing the thing you need to do means
you get to do the thing you want to do.

We began this chapter by discussing supernormal stimuli, which are heightened versions of reality that increase our desire to take action.

Temptation bundling is one way to create a heightened version of any habit by connecting it with something you already want

make it attractive.

The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming.

Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. When dopamine rises, so does our motivation to act.

It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action. The greater the anticipation, the greater the dopamine spike.

Temptation bundling is one way to make your habits more attractive. The strategy is to pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do