When designing systems or making personal choices, leverage defaults for good outcomes (e.g., opt-out rather than opt-in for beneficial programs like retirement savings), as people tend to stick with the status quo and inertia is powerful.
When committing to future tasks or requests, ask yourself if you would agree to do it today; if not, decline to avoid future regret and overcommitment, because a distant ’tomorrow’ will eventually become ’today'.
Actively evaluate your current routines, subscriptions, and commitments, and intentionally build beneficial ones, rather than passively sticking to habits just because they are familiar or the default, which can lead to suboptimal outcomes.
For significant decisions (e.g., major purchases, relationship commitments), implement a waiting period to allow for more calibrated thinking and to reduce the influence of temporary emotional or physical states, which can distort future preferences.
Foster interpersonal connection and communication before exchanges or decisions to encourage cooperation and reduce selfish behavior. Act with trust towards others, as this often produces more trustworthy behavior in return and enhances personal happiness.
When you receive a raise, allocate a portion of that new money to savings, leveraging the ’tomorrow’ effect and mental accounting to increase your financial security without feeling the loss from your current budget.
Consume or use good things (e.g., special wine, frequent flyer miles) in the present rather than perpetually saving them for a ‘special’ future occasion that may never come or may result in the item losing its quality. Schedule their use if necessary to ensure enjoyment.
When choosing a career, focus on what you can realistically imagine doing every day, not just what you enjoy studying. Consider shadowing professionals to gain practical insight into daily work life and avoid the ‘focusing illusion’ of what sounds good versus what is good.
Implement budgeting strategies, including mental accounting (like creating ‘jars’ for different expenses), to manage finances effectively and ensure essential bills are paid, even though money is fungible, as this helps track and allocate funds.
In auctions with many bidders, counterintuitively reduce your bid, as the winner is often the one with the most optimistic (and likely incorrect) estimate, leading to the ‘winner’s curse’ where the winning bid exceeds the item’s true value.
Allocate unexpected windfalls (e.g., honorariums) to fund ’luxurious’ or guilt-inducing purchases, leveraging mental accounting to reduce the ‘pain of paying’ and increase enjoyment without impacting your regular budget.
Avoid shopping for groceries or making food-related decisions when hungry, as your current hunger can distort your perception of future desires, leading to unhealthy or unnecessary purchases you’ll regret later.
Support policies that require companies to make unsubscribing from services as easy as subscribing, to combat exploitative inertia tactics that trap consumers in unwanted commitments.
Within groups or society, establish and enforce norms that allow for the punishment of non-cooperators (even at a cost to the punisher) to significantly boost overall cooperation, as the threat of punishment encourages collective good.
Consistently perform small, simple preventative health actions (e.g., exercising, flossing) that are known to pay off in the long run, even if the immediate benefit isn’t obvious, as humans often avoid these for short-term comfort.
Be mindful that your current emotional or physical state (e.g., hunger, mood, weather) can bias your predictions of future preferences and desires, and account for this when making decisions to avoid choices you’ll later regret.
Engage in acts of kindness towards strangers or donate to causes, even at personal risk or without expectation of return, as these are ’truly beautiful things’ humans do that contribute to collective well-being.
Do not spend windfalls or savings from one category (e.g., cheaper gas) on an upgraded version of the same category (e.g., premium gas) if it provides no real benefit to you or your possessions, as this is an irrational use of funds.