“Temptation Bundling” Could Be Key to Hitting Your 2023 Goals—Here’s What You Need to Know

It’s a New Year’s ceremony of passage. The ball has dropped, the clock has struck midnight, and we’ve set down our ultimate drink till February 1. With the very best intentions, we mix our inexperienced smoothies, be a part of new gyms, and choose up our copies of James Clear’s bestseller: Atomic Habits. And whereas everybody who considers themselves “that girl” on TikTook is doing the identical, I’ve discovered to not be so fast with my judgment. Upon ending the e-book, I’ve come to comprehend: it’s truly definitely worth the hype. Though the e-book has introduced many behavioral psych phrases into the widespread lexicon, there’s one which stood out to me as an absolute recreation changer: temptation bundling.

There’s loads of enjoyable available in life, however the less-than-exciting fact about maturity is that with it comes an entire laundry checklist of yawn-inducing obligations (laundry included). Taxes, loading the dishwasher, clipping your cat’s nails—I can go on in naming the numerous issues I don’t wish to do. And after all, there are the duties that assist us transfer towards our targets that may be laborious to seek out the motivation to do. Working out, writing a marketing strategy… those.

But what if I advised you there was a technique to make these monotonous, typically mundane duties just a little (re: quite a bit) simpler to seek out the motivation to finish? That’s the place temptation bundling comes into play.

Featured picture by Michelle Nash.

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Why Willpower Isn’t the Answer

First off, to know temptation bundling and why it’s so efficient, we now have to have a look at why lots of the myths we’ve come to consider about habits change are precisely that: myths.

Have you ever questioned why it appears some persons are extra motivated than others? Or maybe somebody advised you that with just a little extra willpower, you might make your goals a actuality? While we might imagine that motivation is an innate attribute or that willpower is one thing we are able to entry always, these beliefs usually preserve individuals from persistently practising wholesome habits or attaining their targets. Instead, Clear suggests what he calls the 2nd Law of Behavior Change: make it enticing. He describes it like this:

“We need to make our habits attractive because it is the expectation of a rewarding experience that motivates us to act in the first place.”

And that, he continues, “is where a strategy known as temptation bundling comes into play.”

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What is temptation bundling?

To illustrate the idea, Clear introduces us to Ronan Byrne, {an electrical} engineering pupil in Dublin. Like many people, Byrne loved Netflix binge—however he additionally wished to work out extra. So, he linked his train bike to his pc and TV, making it in order that he might solely watch Netflix when he was pedaling at a sure pace. Clear concludes: “He was […] employing temptation bundling to make his exercise habit more attractive.”

Put merely, temptation bundling is permitting ourselves to do one thing we like to do solely when doing one thing we don’t like to do. The result’s that by pairing these behaviors collectively, we might start to stay up for doing the much less fascinating behavior or job. By rewarding ourselves with that “attractive” behavior, we really feel extra motivated to do what must be executed whereas, prior to now, that motivation didn’t exist.

(Note: While many people who find out about temptation bundling might have initially come to the time period by way of Atomic Habits, the time period was launched in 2014 by Katherine Milkman, the James G. Dinan Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.)

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How to Use Temptation Bundling to Reach Your Goals

Clearly, temptation bundling might be an efficient technique to make use of when you want to create motivation to finish a sure job or chore. Personally, I follow temptation bundling by listening to podcasts solely after I go for walks. I even have an audiobook that I’ve been dying to hearken to (this one—obtain it instantly!). To implement temptation bundling, I can solely hearken to it when doing family chores or watching my favourite TV reveals.

The excellent news is that we are able to implement this idea and habit-forming technique for absolutely anything. The impact of temptation bundling, after all, can include vital short-term and long-term advantages. But in essence, we’re instructing ourselves to construct a stable behavior formation for these items that will have as soon as been troublesome.

Some examples embrace:

• Only getting a pedicure whereas studying the novel you want to end for e-book membership.
• Only watching an episode of your favourite present when figuring out on the treadmill.
• Only scrolling by way of Facebook once you’re on the gymnasium.
• Only taking part in video video games after you’ve written your day by day gratitude checklist.

With this method, merely swap within the behaviors you wish to flip into habits. Reflect in your targets and the behaviors that will already really feel like rewards.

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Bonus: How to Combine Temptation Bundling and Habit Stacking

Have you heard of behavior stacking? It’s a preferred time period used to explain the method of pairing a behavior you already do with a brand new habits you wish to incorporate into your life. James Clear encourages you to take your dedication to constructive habits change a step additional, by suggesting that you simply mix temptation bundling with the behavior stacking technique.

He lays out the method in Atomic Habits:

1. After [CURRENT HABIT], I’ll [HABIT I NEED]. —> behavior stacking

2. After [HABIT I NEED], I’ll [HABIT I WANT]. —> temptation bundling

For extra on behavior stacking and concepts that will help you attain your targets in 2023, learn Camille’s publish on rethinking your New Year’s decision to realize success.