Become your own choice architect- nudge yourself to make better decisions at home

Nudge, also known for its fancier professional name as Libertarian Paternalism, has become one of my favorite concepts. The Nudge world assumes that humans do not make rational decisions. In this world, there are only two kinds of people: humans and econs, and let me tell you econs are only mythical creatures that live on the pages of economic textbooks. Econs make perfectly rational choices. They don’t care about emotions because, obviously, they don’t have any.

However, humans are different. We definitely have emotions, and we tend to make decisions on the spur of the moment. But most importantly, humans are lazyyyyy. We are lazy, we like things as simple as possible to make our life as easy as possible. However, when making important decisions, what goes on in our mind? How do we make the good, long-term positive decision?

• Peer pressure

• Social norm

• Guided by emotions

• You are influenced (or manipulated) by different choice architects

Nudges are everywhere. Think about the supermarket. Next time you go there, check out the wine section (Covid health tip: if you keep a glass of wine in each hand, you can’t touch your face). If you go to the wine section, you will observe a pattern. The wine you will most likely take is in between a higher-end and lower-end option, as the middle option seems the best in terms of quality and price. When presented with three different options that vary with quality and price, most individuals will pick the middle option.

This is just an example of many. Nudges can be applied in government policies, supermarkets, clothing stores, airports, and it can also be architected at your own house. I mean, we spend most of our time inside at home, we might at least do something with it.

Use the 20 second rule - make it the most obvious choice

Our brains are wired to look for the cheapest, simpler and easiest option there is. As I mentioned before, we are lazy. We enjoy things that are simplified and that are literally placed in front of us. If you want to create a new habit, or simply continue to develop your healthy habit, put it less than 20 seconds away from you. The less time it takes to get it done, the more likely you're going to do it!

For example:

• You want to start reading 30 mins at night: Place your books in your night stand, 20 seconds or less away from you, and this will make it easier to implement it

• You want to start taking your bike more often. You could leave your bike and helmet next to your front door. That way, every time you leave your house, there is no way of leaving without seeing it, and it's ready for you to ride it.

Nudge your kitchen - improve your eating habits

Place healthy food at first sight

Grabbing a snack in the middle of the day can go two ways: grabbing the cookie in the counter right as you walk through it or that apple hidden in the fridge. Place your healthy food (that does not mean only salad and greens), at first sight, because the probabilities to eating healthier are higher if that piece of fruit or that granola bar are closer to you.

Use smaller plates

Simply changing the size of your plates, unconsciously, will guide you to maintain a more balanced and healthy lifestyle. Change the size of your plates. By using smaller plates, you will unconsciously put less food on your plate. A two inch difference in a plate diameter can result in 22% fewer calories being serves, and although this is not a drastic change, it helps you to develop that habit.

Decision points

Creating a decision point seems to work because it converts decision-making from an automatic process to a fairly deliberative, rational process. It is an intervention designed to get people to stop, pause consumption, and think a little bit more.

For example:

• What if every time you bought something online using your credit-card, a pop-up message would say, "are you sure you want to spend $50, click yes or no." This makes the process a bit more complex (make it easy to say no, hit OK to say NO)

• Simply create interruption to consumption's routine: your air conditioning switches itself every two hours, and the only way you could switch it on is to physically go down to where your switch is

Set up defaults

Defaults work because of two reasons:

• People are extremely lazy

• Simply something everybody else is doing; if everyone is doing workouts during quarantine, that's the default, perhaps I should do it as well

For example:

• Be environmental friendly: create a default in your printer to print two-sided page. If you create this default, later you are going to be lazier, and therefore, just leave it the way it is

• Social media: you have 1 hour per day to be on Instagram. Set the timer on your phone, and if that hour has gone by, your phone will ask you to write a long and difficult password

• Daily reminders: set up daily reminders every 2 hours to take a 10-20 minute break to freshen up and have a snack

• Create a default in your phone so that it shuts itself down the hours you are going to be working

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Remember, at the end of the day we are humans, and we make irrational decisions. You will find ways to override the reminders and nudges you created (I do it many times). Alexa will tell you to get up and move your body, and sometimes you will just tell her to shut up.

However, the great thing about nudges is that you won't even notice them. You will look at them, or interact with them unconsciously, and that's my favorite part. My routine stays the way it is, I just upgrade a bit to make better and greater decisions that will have not only short term but long term benefits.

ps: you can do absolutely everything. Sometimes you just need a little nudge

XoXo

Sofia's Choice