A nudge - a feature of your environment that changes your behavior
Our lives are winding paths between nudges we choose or someone else chooses for us.
Every morning, I wake up to a dry brush waiting for me. Then a toothbrush. Then a water bottle by the salt shaker, reminding me to start my hydration and the day all cleaned up.
Next, 2 clear paths:
-
My gym bag, ready to go.
-
Or my writing desk, set up with a notebook with fresh ideas.
My planner’s open too, nudging me toward my commitments.
Breakfast? No thought needed.
French press is prepped. Eggs are boiled. Tuna can’s out. Supplements lined up. Fruit or salad on hand.
I use zero willpower for any of this.
I’m a professional nudger, architecting my life choice by choice.
Today we’re staying with the environment theme, talking about nudges.
It’s not just objects that nudge and shape us.
People are nudges too.
Your friends, your coworkers, your reference group. They’re nudging you somewhere, all the time. Keeping you moving? Keeping you stuck?
“Sitting near high performers can increase productivity, quality of work, and effectiveness. A study found that sitting within 25 feet of a high performer improved performance by 15%.”
The flip side?
Toxic or low-performing neighbors can drag you down twice as fast, "Proximity to low performers or toxic employees can decrease performance, engagement, and morale. Research indicates that negative spillovers can be twice as impactful as positive spillovers, with performance declining by up to 30% when sitting near a low performer."
They call it the Chameleon Effect.
We pick up behaviors, attitudes, energy, good or bad, from those around us.
Today I’m changing my scenery. I need a change, a shakeup.
New place. New routines. Because the surest way to shift how you think and feel is to shift what surrounds you.
Want to change your life? Don't change yourself - change your nudges.
Look at:
-
Places (Silicon Valley or Blue Zones effect)
-
People (your five closest, your reference group)
-
Rules, tools, defaults, processes (you chose your tools and then they make you)
-
Your fridge (which becomes your mirror)
What’s nudging you?
Is it helping you move forward, or keeping you stuck?