When we design our lives, we pretend we’re objective. Rational like a machine. Efficient like a computer.
Well, my friend, I have news for you… We’re not. Humans aren’t logical creatures. The human brain prizes simplicity over complexity, ease over pain, and convenience over… well… just about everything.
I wonder if spreadsheets and hyper-connectivity make us under-estimate gut instinct and the quirks of human behavior. Obsessed with precision and optimization, we forget that most people simply want ease and convenience.
Businesses forget about human nature all the time. They downplay and devalue the role of unconscious mental processes in favor of objective, easy to measure decisions that are easy to justify.
As Rory Sutherland wrote:
"Despite the dominance of unconscious decision processes, most businesses like to act as though those processes do not exist, preferring to attribute their success to something boringly objective.
In fact, little of Apple’s success can be credited to raw technological superiority: it is a psychology company that happens to make technology products.
In technology, this urge to downplay or devalue the role of unconscious mental processes is wrong."
Imperfect, irrational behavior can lead to excellent outcomes. Some examples:
The Carnivore Diet works not because it’s optimal, but because eating only red meat is easier than counting calories and grams of sugar.
Website loading bars give us the illusion of progress and make the time go by faster. If there’s a mark of progress, we persevere a lot longer.
The military uses trumpets, marching, and drums as placebos for bravery.
Placebos are illogical. They make zero logical sense. And yet, they are under-rated. Placebos are totally free, extremely effective, proven to work, and don’t have negative side effects.
A story for you: In college, when I started working out, I asked my strongest friend to teach me to lift weights. Logically, following his regimen seemed like the best option, so I agreed to long and intense workouts four days per week. Guess what? I dreaded them. Going from 0 to 100 was brutal, and after two months, I stopped working out.
I remember being really, really frustrated.
Desperate, I tried an illogical, unproven solution. I applied the David Perell Habit Building Formula™ to fitness. Instead, of working out intensely four days per week, I worked out casually seven days per week — for no more than 30 minutes at a time. I’d walk into the gym, set a 30 minute timer, and leave right when my phone buzzed.
Logically, this makes no sense. Every fitness expert told me I wasn’t spending enough time in the gym. They said I needed to recover. Crucially, they ignored human psychology. The secret was this: I made my workouts binary. Only one question mattered: Did I workout or not? The second that 30-minute timer buzzed, I won. This system was easy. Instead of burning through brutal workouts, working out became fun and enjoyable. I never exhausted myself, and since my workouts felt too short, I had motivation to return the next day.
People tell me they don’t work out because it makes them tired. I find the opposite. The body isn’t like an iPhone battery. Energy isn’t fixed. Rather, in my experience, working out creates energy. Pretty sure it’s because of endorphins. Hormones might have something to do with it too. Fact or fiction, dainty or delusional, placebo or not, this is my story and I’m sticking with it.
Simplicity leads to action, even when it comes at the expense of rationality. In fact, rationality can be bad for your health. We ignore human psychology at our peril.
A word to the wise: Rather than bullying people with rational arguments, we should design environments with simple guidance, where intuitive decisions double as productive ones.
Sometimes, it’s totally right to be totally wrong.
Fresh Ideas
North Star Podcast: James Clear
I interviewed James Clear, a writer focused on how we can create better habits, make better decisions, and live better lives.
In this episode, we explore the nooks and crannies of habit formation. We discuss habits through a series of conversations about James’ favorite activities: baseball, travel, weightlifting, marketing, and writing. A former ESPN academic All-American college baseball player, James has an uncanny knack for taking important ideas and making them simple and easy to implement.
There’s so much actionable wisdom in this episode, so find a pen, grab a piece of paper, and press play.
Listen to the Podcast Here: Website | iTunes
New Article: Maximizing vs. Satisficing
Maximizing vs. Satisficing is such a brilliant distinction.
Most people use one word to define all kinds of brands. But there are two really kinds of brands: (1) Satisficing Brands and (2) Maximizing Brands. Most people focus too much on Maximizing Brands and not enough on Satisficing Brands.
Most of the time we prioritize safety over perfection. We'll pay a premium not only for ‘better,’ but for ‘less likely to be terrible.’ When we buy Satisficing Brands, we buy safety and assurance.
Three reasons why "Satisficing Brands" thrive:
The Need for Common Agreement
The Search for Safety
The “We Know It's Going to Be There” Principle
Coolest Things I Learned This Week
A Topological Map of Africa
Where is Religion Most Common?
Here’s a map of religious belief as percentage of population.
Red is high percentage of local population with faith. Blue is low.
Brilliant Design: A Lovely Dorm Room
On Learning
The best students in school seek to satisfy their teachers.
The best students in life seek to satisfy their curiosity.
The CIA’s “Simple Sabotage Field Manual”
In 1944, the CIA published the "Simple Sabotage Field Manual.”
The top-secret document is now de-classified. It’s a timeless guide to subverting any organization with "purposeful stupidity.”
Unfortunately, these strategies are all too familiar. Some highlights:
1. "Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.”
2. Make "speeches." Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your "points" by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.
3. When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study and consideration." Attempt to make the committee as large as possible — never less than five.
4. Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
5. Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
6. Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
7. Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.
8. Advocate "caution." Be "reasonable" and urge your fellow-conferees to be "reasonable" and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.
9. Contrive as many interruptions to your work as you can.
10. Never pass on your skill and experience to a new or less skillful worker.
11. Multiply the procedures and clearances involved in issuing instructions, pay checks, and so on. See that three people have to approve everything where one would do.
12. Work slowly.
Glen Weyl's Intro to Radical Markets Will Warm Your Heart
Photo of the Week
I had a blast hosting James Clear on the North Star Podcast. I first discovered James’ writing in college, right as I was learning about habits and implementing his teachings in the gym.
Habit formation sits right at the intersection of action and psychology. Naturally, we talked about the quirks of human behavior, and how to use them to your advantage.
You can listen to our conversation on my website and on iTunes.
Have a great week,
David Perell