Nir And Far: Business, Behaviour and the Brain

Alison Levine, author of "On the Edge: Leadership Lessons from Mount Everest and Other Extreme Environments" talks with Nir Eyal  Get Alison's book here: http://amzn.to/2hHe6o6  Subscribe to Nir's blog and receive a free workbook: http://nirandfar.com/subscribe  

Around the election, in a desperate search for answers about our nation’s future, I found myself scrolling, reading, and watching everything I could. I was trapped in an endless pull-to-refresh cycle of consuming more news, tweets, posts, and videos than was good for me. I told myself that I was staying informed, that this was part of my civic duty—and that not staying up-to-date 24-7 would leave...

DJ Khaled, the one-man internet meme, is known for warning his tens of millions of social media followers about a group of villains he calls “they.” “ They  don’t want you motivated.  They  don’t want you inspired,” he  blares  on camera. “ They don’t want you to win,” he  warns . On Ellen DeGeneres’s talk show, Khaled urged the host , “Please, Ellen, stay away f...

The subject line read: “did you see this?” The message was from my editor Jen. “Nir, I saw the headline on this story and thought it might be written by you—but no!” she wrote. “Very weird.” I instantly clicked on the link she’d sent. It was uncanny! An article written by Christopher Mele at the New York Times , freakishly similar to a post I’d written but hadn’t yet published . You can read the N...

If you’ve started a tech company to make a lot of money, chances are you’re bad at math—or simply delusional. Statistically speaking, your odds of a big-time payday are somewhere between zero and almost zero. Ninety-two percent of startups fail within three years . Only  one percent of apps in the Apple App Store are financially successful. And even for the fortunate few companies that raise...

There’s a saying that you should never trust a skinny chef. By that logic, you should never trust an out of shape  behavioral designer . Over the past four years, I’ve discovered many incredible ways to hack my habits and improve my life. I have taught myself to love running, dramatically improved my diet and found the focus to write a  bestselling book . Understanding how the mind works...

Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet (the company formerly known as Google), has a quirky way of deciding which companies he likes. It’s called “The Toothbrush Test.” According to the New York Times , when Page looks at a potential company to acquire, he wants to know if the product is, like a toothbrush, “something you will use once or twice a day.” Page clearly understands habits. As I wrote in my book,...

My taxi pulled up to the hotel. I got out my credit card and prepared to pay for the ride. The journey was pleasant enough but little did I know I was about to encounter a bit of psychological trickery designed to get me to pay more for the lift. Chances are you’re paying more, too. Digital payment systems use subtle tactics to increase tips, and while it’s certainly good for hard-working ser...

“I’m endlessly loyal,” my wife said, staring straight into my eyes. But she wasn’t talking about our marriage — she was pledging her allegiance to a piece of software. “I’ll never quit Microsoft Office,” she told me. “It does too much for me to leave it.” For a moment I wondered if her husband had engendered the same reverence, but then I remembered things at Microsoft aren’t all wine and roses. I...

Fitness apps are all the rage. An explosion of new companies and products want to track your steps and count your calories with the aim of melting that excess blubber. There’s just one problem — most of these apps don’t work. In fact, there is good reason to believe they make us fatter. One study called out “the dirty secret of wearables,” citing that “these devices fail to drive long-term sustain...

I don’t usually write about personal and revealing matters, but recently I’ve noticed something I don’t like about myself–I check email too often. This confession doesn’t come easily, because, ironically, I am the author of a book titled Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products .  It is a guidebook for designing technology people can’t put down. There’s just one problem–I can’t put my tech...

Four minutes into pitching the wonders of his invention to an influential reporter, Patrick Paul gets hit with the kind of snarky comment startup entrepreneurs dread. Paul is the founder of  Hemingwrite , a “distraction free writing tool with modern technology like a mechanical keyboard, e-paper screen and cloud backups.” You can read the Nir and Far blog post on: Latest Tech Trends: Products...

I had just finished giving a speech on building habits when a woman in the audience exclaimed, “You teach how to create habits, but that’s not my problem. I’m fat!” The frustration in her voice echoed throughout the room. “My problem is stopping bad habits. That’s why I’m fat. Where does that leave me?” I deeply sympathized with the woman. “I was once clinically obese,” I told her. She stared at m...

If you are among the 19 million people Apple predicts will buy an Apple Watch, I have some bad news for you — I’m betting there is an important feature missing from the watch that’s going to drive you nuts. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy one. In fact, I’m ordering one myself. However, this paradox illustrates an important lesson for the way companies design their products. You can read the Ni...

Let’s say you’ve built the next big thing. You’re ready to take on the world and make billions. Your product is amazing and you’re convinced you’ve bested the competition. As a point of fact, you know you offer the very best solution in your market. But here’s the rub. If your competition has established stronger customer habits than you have, you’re in trouble. The cold truth is that the better p...