Warning: May Be Habit Forming

As presented at RailsConf 2017.

Transcript

1. WARNING:
   MAY BE HABIT FORMING
   Nickolas Means
   @nmeans
   

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3. 40%
   of Americans make
   New Year’s Resolutions.
   

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4. Of those who make
   resolutions,
   keep them.
   8%
   

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6. But first, a disclaimer.
   

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7. My Story
   

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8. August 2015
   

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9. The Cycle of Non-Finishers
   1. Get super motivated.
   2. Start doing things.
   3. Realize it’s harder than you thought.
   4. Lose your motivation.
   5. Give up.
   

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10. Dr. Roy Baumeister
    

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14. Attempts Time Spent
    Radish
    Cohort
    Cookie
    Cohort
    19.4 8:21
    34.3 18:54
    The Baumeister Experiment
    

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15. Lesson #1:
    Your willpower will fail
    you every single time.
    Plan accordingly.
    

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16. The Cycle of Non-Finishers
    1. Get super motivated.
    2. Start doing things.
    3. Realize it’s harder than you thought.
    4. Lose your motivation.
    5. Give up.
    

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17. The Cycle of Non-Finishers
    1. Get super motivated.
    2. Start doing things.
    3. Realize it’s harder than you thought.
    4. Lose your motivation.
    5. Give up.
    

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18. Dr. B.J. Fogg
    

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19. Motivation Wave
    

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20. Motivation Wave
    1. Be honest with yourself.
    

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21. Motivation Wave
    1. Be honest with yourself.
    2. Pick your goal.
    3. Make a plan.
    

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25. My First Goal
    Drink a green smoothie 

    for breakfast every day 

    for one month.
    

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26. 1 cup spinach

    1 cup water

    1 banana

    1/2 cup frozen pineapple

    1/2 cup frozen mango

    1 scoop vanilla whey protein

    Beginner’s Luck Smoothie
    

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27. Why It Worked
    1. A well-structured goal.
    

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28. Lesson #2:
    Your initial goal should
    be so small you’d feel silly
    not doing it.
    

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29. Why It Worked
    1. A well-structured goal.
    2. A plan that made it easy.
    3. All the ingredients of a habit.
    

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30. Charles Duhigg
    

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31. Charles Duhigg
    

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38. 1. Cue
    2. Routine
    3. Reward
    

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39. 1. Cue 2. Routine 3. Reward
    

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40. Lesson #3:
    Deliberately building a habit
    is far more effective that just
    deciding to make a change.
    

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44. Habits are just simple systems.
    Lesson #4:
    

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45. Sam Carpenter
    

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46. Sam Carpenter
    

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48. Where I Went Wrong
    1. A choice that required willpower.
    2. An unrealistic commitment.
    

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51. February 2017
    

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52. April 2017
    

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53. How To Hit Big Goals
    1. Take a long-term view.
    2. Set goals along the way that let
    you snowball success.
    3. Build habits and then optimize
    them with a systems mindset.
    

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54. August 2015 April 2017
    

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55. WARNING:
    MAY BE HABIT FORMING
    Nickolas Means
    @nmeans
    

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