Nir Eyal

So why am I ranting about this? What's the big deal? Tomato, tomato. I'll tell you why I'm ranting about it. Because when we try and convince people that you can turn everything into a habit and then they hear some guru's advice that says, oh, you need 66 days to form a habit or 40 days or 30 days. There's no magic number, people. It doesn't exist. But then they try, and then it doesn't work.

So why am I ranting about this? What's the big deal? Tomato, tomato. I'll tell you why I'm ranting about it. Because when we try and convince people that you can turn everything into a habit and then they hear some guru's advice that says, oh, you need 66 days to form a habit or 40 days or 30 days. There's no magic number, people. It doesn't exist. But then they try, and then it doesn't work.

So why am I ranting about this? What's the big deal? Tomato, tomato. I'll tell you why I'm ranting about it. Because when we try and convince people that you can turn everything into a habit and then they hear some guru's advice that says, oh, you need 66 days to form a habit or 40 days or 30 days. There's no magic number, people. It doesn't exist. But then they try, and then it doesn't work.

It's still hard. They still hate exercise. Meditation is still difficult. Writing is still a chore. What do they do? Do they blame the guru? No, they blame themselves. They think, oh, I'm broken. You're not broken. It's this methodology is broken. Rather, when you have the expectation that when something is hard, good. It's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be difficult.

It's still hard. They still hate exercise. Meditation is still difficult. Writing is still a chore. What do they do? Do they blame the guru? No, they blame themselves. They think, oh, I'm broken. You're not broken. It's this methodology is broken. Rather, when you have the expectation that when something is hard, good. It's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be difficult.

It's still hard. They still hate exercise. Meditation is still difficult. Writing is still a chore. What do they do? Do they blame the guru? No, they blame themselves. They think, oh, I'm broken. You're not broken. It's this methodology is broken. Rather, when you have the expectation that when something is hard, good. It's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be difficult.

Because if it was easy, everyone would do it. And so it's a different mindset. You have to do what I call re-imagining the trigger in order to see that discomfort as something that's serving you rather than hurting you. So I'll give you an example when I'm bored. Okay. I'm bored every day because what do I do for a living? I write books and I have no idea how to make writing into a habit.

Because if it was easy, everyone would do it. And so it's a different mindset. You have to do what I call re-imagining the trigger in order to see that discomfort as something that's serving you rather than hurting you. So I'll give you an example when I'm bored. Okay. I'm bored every day because what do I do for a living? I write books and I have no idea how to make writing into a habit.

Because if it was easy, everyone would do it. And so it's a different mindset. You have to do what I call re-imagining the trigger in order to see that discomfort as something that's serving you rather than hurting you. So I'll give you an example when I'm bored. Okay. I'm bored every day because what do I do for a living? I write books and I have no idea how to make writing into a habit.

It's always hard every day. I got to write. And all I want to do when I start writing is check the news or look at sports scores or check stock prices or check my email inbox. Anything but the doing the writing because it's hard freaking work. But what I do instead is I repeat to myself a personal mantra. And you can use this mantra. You can make up your own. Feel free to steal it.

It's always hard every day. I got to write. And all I want to do when I start writing is check the news or look at sports scores or check stock prices or check my email inbox. Anything but the doing the writing because it's hard freaking work. But what I do instead is I repeat to myself a personal mantra. And you can use this mantra. You can make up your own. Feel free to steal it.

It's always hard every day. I got to write. And all I want to do when I start writing is check the news or look at sports scores or check stock prices or check my email inbox. Anything but the doing the writing because it's hard freaking work. But what I do instead is I repeat to myself a personal mantra. And you can use this mantra. You can make up your own. Feel free to steal it.

My mantra is this. I take a deep breath and I tell myself this is what it feels like to get better. This is what it feels like to get better. And so I'm re-imagining that discomfort and I say, you know what? Good. I'm supposed, this is supposed to be difficult. This is supposed to be hard. You know why? Because this is what it feels like to get better.

My mantra is this. I take a deep breath and I tell myself this is what it feels like to get better. This is what it feels like to get better. And so I'm re-imagining that discomfort and I say, you know what? Good. I'm supposed, this is supposed to be difficult. This is supposed to be hard. You know why? Because this is what it feels like to get better.

My mantra is this. I take a deep breath and I tell myself this is what it feels like to get better. This is what it feels like to get better. And so I'm re-imagining that discomfort and I say, you know what? Good. I'm supposed, this is supposed to be difficult. This is supposed to be hard. You know why? Because this is what it feels like to get better.

So that's a very important step is to reimagine that trigger as a positive rather than something we have to escape.

So that's a very important step is to reimagine that trigger as a positive rather than something we have to escape.

So that's a very important step is to reimagine that trigger as a positive rather than something we have to escape.

Totally. And for some people, the first time they hear that, it sounds cheesy. I can't do that. And by the way, this is one of dozens of techniques. So not every technique will be the first go-to solution. So I encourage people to check out the book. There's a lot more in Indistractable, all many different crayons you can color with.

Totally. And for some people, the first time they hear that, it sounds cheesy. I can't do that. And by the way, this is one of dozens of techniques. So not every technique will be the first go-to solution. So I encourage people to check out the book. There's a lot more in Indistractable, all many different crayons you can color with.