How to actually build better habits (and stop getting in your own way) with Nir Eyal
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
What is up? I'm Grace Beverley and welcome back to Working Hard, the podcast-shaped guidebook on how to improve your own life and achieve what you actually dreamed of doing, because life's too short for boring podcasts and bad advice. What is up and welcome back to Working Hard. So a while back I did a video on habit theory and it kind of took on a life of its own. So many of you messaged me about it and it's still one of the most popular episodes we have ever done. So when I heard that the expert I spoke to in that episode was finally actually coming to the UK, I really wanted to make a recording happen. I was like, this is squarely what we talk about on the podcast. There is so much I want to ask him about from the origins of the theory itself and how you can use it practically.
So we decided to make it happen. Nir Eyal is an author and lecturer who has spent years studying what makes humans tick, how habits actually form in the brain, why we're all so distracted, and what people who actually achieve extraordinary things genuinely do different with their days. he's an expert in a lot of the things that we love to talk about on this side of the internet. So we get into the habit loop. Why willpower doesn't work? What's actually happening when you can't put your phone down? The beliefs that hold us back and how to shift all of that to be able to live the life you want to live. I absolutely loved having this conversation. I almost just didn't look at my questions at all purely because I...
felt like I was just having a dinner party conversation where I wanted to get into the absolute crux of how I can use this to make my life better in the everyday. Before we get into it, you know the drill, please make sure you're following the podcast on whatever app you're listening to this on. That means that this will land in your feed every Monday morning and it is the best thing you can do to support us to keep the podcast completely free. So let's get into it. Nir Eyal, are you currently more working hard or hardly working?
I would say that I'm doing both. I'm hardly working on the things that don't matter and I'm working hard on the things that do.
And I guess as someone who studies work and productivity a lot, you're probably thinking about how hard you're working and what work looks like and how that is reflective of your wider life. What would you say work kind of means to you as someone who does spend a lot of time like looking at the data and the science behind that?
So I think if you would have asked me a few years ago, actually, when we did talk a few years ago, I would have been much more likely to tell you that it's about the task and fitting in as much as you can in your day. And now I've realized that upstream of productivity is is belief that the bottleneck is actually not the tasks we have to check off our to-do list, that actually that could be a pretty terrible productivity technique. And there's some reasons why to-do lists are terrible. We can talk about that as well. But that the way you look at the work that you're doing, what you believe about what does work mean, has a much greater impact. Because from studying the most successful people, whether it's in business, the arts, entertainment, athletics, they have a different relationship with things that are painful.
That they are able to separate pain from suffering.
That's so interesting because I think about this personally a lot without the actual data behind this. I've always been a little bit of probably a workaholic, but I feel, and this kind of sounds cringe in a way to say, but genuinely I feel very lucky because the work I do is work I get so excited about that actually, as you say, it kind of doesn't feel painful. It's not the association I have with work. I feel very lucky to do this. And don't get me wrong, I also have shit days where I'm like... What is this? And why is my day looking like this? And why, you know, why have I chosen this job and all of that? But a lot of the time, I feel like I'm able to have much better stamina and work ethic, not because I'm the most diligent person in the world, but because I find the work I'm doing interesting.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:11–8:52
2
How did Nir Eyal define 'work' and why does belief matter for productivity?
8:52–12:27
3
What is the difference between pain and suffering — and how can reframing reduce suffering?
12:27–41:39
4
How can I identify my own limiting beliefs when they feel invisible?
41:39–54:38
5
What is the turnaround method and how can it shift stuck beliefs quickly?
54:38–1:05:54
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Working Hard with Grace Beverley
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