Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 209 answers
Some behaviors are best eliminated gradually while others benefit from a clean break.
Making a formal commitment to stop a behavior increases success.
Having someone who knows about your extinction goal provides social support.
When the trigger for an unwanted behavior fires redirect to a pre-planned substitute.
Observe the urge to perform the unwanted behavior without acting on it.
Ride the wave of an urge rather than acting on it — urges peak and pass.
Reward yourself for successfully not performing an unwanted behavior.
After a behavior is eliminated continue monitoring for signs of return.
The ability to deliberately remove behaviors is as important as the ability to install them.
Every new behavior you try is a hypothesis about what will work — test it.
State what you expect to happen before trying a new behavior.
Define the behavior measure the baseline try the intervention measure the result.
Test new behaviors in small low-stakes ways before committing fully.
Try a new behavior for a defined period then evaluate — no permanent commitment required.
Change one behavior at a time so you can attribute results accurately.
What is the smallest change you could make to test whether this approach works.
When everything is an experiment failure is just data not defeat.
Keep a log of what you tried and what happened for future reference.
An experiment that shows a behavior does not work is a valuable result.
You are running experiments on yourself — sample size one — which means more variation is expected.
Do not experiment with behaviors that could cause serious harm.
Maintain a list of behavioral experiments you want to run.
Run experiments one at a time for clearer results or in parallel for faster iteration.
Test a new routine for two weeks before deciding whether to adopt it permanently.