A Nudge in the Right Direction
This Episode’s Top Tips
At its basics, nudging is an attempt to change someone's behavior by changing the environment or conditions. A nudge shouldn't alter the incentives, it just makes the option we want to pick the easiest option.
Nudges works because our decision making isn't rational, in reality, we actually usually just take the path of least resistance.
We can nudge ourselves in several different ways. One way many of us already use nudges is through reminders. We can also alter our environment (like having a water bottle on our desk to nudge us to drink more water) or we can change our default options (like having our web browsers default to a blank page instead of opening up to countless tabs).
It's important to be aware of nudges because many companies use them to influence our behavior. When we know that we're being nudged we can decide if that's really the decision we want to be making or if there is actually a better option for us.
Mentioned in this Episode
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness
