How gratitude can benefit your life
Happy Thanksgiving! We all give thanks on this holiday. Cultivating gratitude throughout the year can have tremendous positive effects on your health and your relationships. Here are seven scientifically proven …
Stories help people know what to do
Storytelling is one of my favorite topics. I often talk about stories as a way to get people to care about something. But that’s only part of what stories …
What’s wrong with your message? Make it more emotional
What’s more likely to get you to stop using pesticides on your lawn? Facts about possible impacts of pesticides on streams? Or the idea that you might harm your kids …
A tiny bottle of arsenic
When Dave Galvin talks about why we need to manage hazardous waste from houses and small businesses, he sometimes holds up a tiny bottle of rat poison. It’s 100% arsenic. …
How to make your ideas stick like duct tape
Duct tape is designed for a long-term bond. If you’re trying to change someone’s behavior, beliefs or opinions, wouldn’t you like your ideas to stick in the same way? I’m …
Cool resource to help think through ways to change behavior
The next time you’re planning a behavior change project, take a look at Artefact’s behavior change strategy cards. They can help you brainstorm new ideas. The set of 23 cards …
Eating cookies or socializing: Changing the habit loop
Why did he eat a cookie as a mid-afternoon break? Every day at about 3:30 Charles Duhigg would go to the cafeteria, buy a cookie and chat with his co-workers. …
Would you drive more slowly to win a prize?
What if you could win a prize for safe driving? Would it encourage you to drive more slowly? The answer, an experiment in Sweden found, is yes. The system uses …
The Super Bowl and supersize bowls
Americans are fat. More than two-thirds of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese. Big portions are a big reason. Drinks, snacks and meals have all gotten bigger over …
We’re all sheep
The Wall Street Journal ran an article about how to get people to adopt green behaviors. The headline said, “It isn’t financial incentives. It isn’t more information. It’s guilt.” The …