Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 4568 answers
Building an elaborate trigger system and then never reviewing it. Your triggers quietly degrade as your environment, schedule, and priorities shift. You blame yourself for 'losing discipline' when the real problem is unmaintained infrastructure. The system didn't fail — you stopped maintaining it.
Regularly review your triggers to ensure they are still relevant and well-calibrated.
You are designing the user experience of your own cognitive systems.
You are designing the user experience of your own cognitive systems.
You are designing the user experience of your own cognitive systems.
You are designing the user experience of your own cognitive systems.
You are designing the user experience of your own cognitive systems.
You are designing the user experience of your own cognitive systems.
You are designing the user experience of your own cognitive systems.
You are designing the user experience of your own cognitive systems.
Choose one trigger you currently rely on — a habit cue, a reminder, or an environmental prompt. Conduct a UX audit of this trigger using Norman's seven fundamental principles. (1) Discoverability: Can you reliably notice this trigger when it occurs, or does it blend into the background? (2).
Designing triggers that are legible only to your aspirational self — the version of you that is alert, motivated, and paying attention — rather than your actual self, the one who is tired, distracted, and operating on autopilot. This is the equivalent of designing a beautiful interface that only.
You are designing the user experience of your own cognitive systems.
Start with broad triggers and narrow them as you learn what works.
Start with broad triggers and narrow them as you learn what works.
Start with broad triggers and narrow them as you learn what works.
Start with broad triggers and narrow them as you learn what works.
Start with broad triggers and narrow them as you learn what works.
Pick one trigger you currently use (or want to use) for a behavior you're building. Write it down exactly as it stands. Now run it for three days, logging every time it fires and whether the activation felt useful or wasted. At the end of three days, rewrite the trigger to be more specific based.
Spending weeks designing the 'perfect' trigger before ever testing it. You research the ideal conditions, the optimal phrasing, the best environmental setup — and you never actually deploy anything. Or the opposite: you set a broad trigger on day one and never revisit it, accepting a 30%.
Start with broad triggers and narrow them as you learn what works.
A complete set of well-tuned triggers means you respond appropriately to everything that matters.
A complete set of well-tuned triggers means you respond appropriately to everything that matters.
A complete set of well-tuned triggers means you respond appropriately to everything that matters.