The Power of Automatic Rules for Behavior Change

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Automatic rules can help us turn our desired behavior into our default behavior, even when we're at our worst. Inspired by a conversation with Daniel Kahneman, he shared his rule of never saying yes on the phone to avoid social pressure. Rules are powerful because people don't argue with them. We should consider creating rules for ourselves that we can follow even in challenging situations. Just like we know not to speed on the highway, we need to use rules to our advantage and shape our behavior.

Brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements, Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, and AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement.

Shane Parrish (@ShaneAParrish) is the entrepreneur and wisdom seeker behind Farnam Street and the host of The Knowledge Project podcast, where he focuses on mastering the best of what other people have already figured out. Shane's popular online course, Decision by Design, has helped thousands of executives, leaders, and managers around the world learn the repeatable behaviors that improve results. His work has been featured in nearly every major publication, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.

Shane is the author of Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results.

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[21:33] The benefits of a challenging education (once the tears dry up).

[31:09] From 68131-1440.blogger dot com to Farnam Street.

[36:10] An early exploration of cognitive biases.

[39:39] "Ordinary moments determine your position, and your position determines your options."

[45:55] Incisive, deliberate decision-makers.

[47:44] Defining mental models.

[50:47] The declaration of platform independence.

[52:50] A Farnam Street business breakdown.

[56:05] Scrutinizing the problem statement.