I’ve lost count of how many trainings I’ve walked out of thinking, “That landed. I’m absolutely going to start doing things differently.”
And then a week passes — and the old habits quietly take over again.
I don’t think the problem is a lack of commitment or motivation.
I think it’s design.
Because most traditional training asks you to remember what your environment is designed to make you forget.
People do not decide their futures. They decide their habits, and their habits decide their futures.
And that gap, the one between knowing and doing, is where influence actually begins.
If we understand how habits truly change, we can create conditions that make the right actions easier, more automatic, and more sustainable.
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Why Most Change Fades Too Fast
Traditional learning asks people to change by remembering.
But behavioral science helps people change by redesigning what they remember to do.
I find that most professionals already know what they should be doing differently — delegate better, follow up consistently, take breaks, communicate clearly.
But when real-world pressure hits, the brain defaults to automation.
That’s why knowledge transfer rarely equals habit transformation.
Studies and popular books, like “Good Habits, Bad Habits” and “Atomic Habits,” consistently show that cues in the environment, not just knowledge or motivation, determine whether habits stick or break.
The Science of Subtle Change
Behavioral economists call this nudge management — the practice of embedding small prompts or cues that make the right behavior the easy one.
Across a number of studies, nudges have produced measurable and sustained results.
A recent meta-analysis found that many types of nudge-based interventions, as studied by scholars across various academic disciplines in both field and laboratory settings, have successfully changed behavior in a wide range of applications.
Why? Because nudges:
Operate automatically — they don’t require extra willpower
Meet people at the moment of decision — not in theory
Work through context, not pressure
Neuroscience supports this:
A well-timed prompt interrupts the brain’s habit loop before it locks in, creating a small opening for a better action.
Repeat that action often enough, and the neural pathway strengthens.
That’s how habits form and how influence becomes visible in behavior.
Elevate Your Influence
The more skilled you become at shaping habits, your own or someone else’s, the easier it is to create change that lasts.
When you understand what actually drives behavior, you don’t have to rely on reminders, pressure, or long explanations.
You guide people through design, not force.
And once people experience follow-through with less friction, they begin to trust your judgment more.
That’s the quiet advantage of habit intelligence: it makes your influence visible in actions, not just ideas.
The 3-Layer Framework for Habit Influence
Building or breaking habits (in yourself or others) is less about discipline and more about architecture.
Gif by theblock on Giphy
Let’s get it…
1. Shape the Environment, Not Just the Intention
Behavior follows design.
Ask: How can I make the desired behavior easier, faster, or more visible than the old one?
For example: If you want your team to adopt a new reporting process, integrate it into the existing workflow instead of adding an extra login step.
Reducing friction reduces resistance.
2. Replace, Don’t Just Remove
The brain resists a vacuum.
When you try to eliminate a habit without replacing it, it defaults to what’s familiar.
Instead of “Stop checking messages during focus time,”
Try “Keep your phone in another room and open your task list instead.”
Substitution gives the brain a new pattern to follow.
3. Reinforce Through Just-in-Time Prompts
Timing matters more than repetition.
Prompts delivered at the exact moment of decision outperform once-a-week reminders or long training decks.
A brief automated reminder before a key meeting of “Pause. Clarify your intent before you speak,” can shape behavior faster than a full-day communication workshop.
Good habits don’t depend on memory.
They depend on cues.
If you want people to act differently, redesign what surrounds their decisions, not their motivation.
LEVEL UP
AI Prompt: Your Habit Design Partner
Copy, paste, and complete this in your favorite LLM:
Act as my behavioral-design partner. I’ll describe a habit I want to build or break for myself or my team.
Help me by doing the following:
1. Diagnose the habit loop: Identify the cue, routine, and reward keeping the current behavior in place.
2. Spot friction: Point out the environmental or workflow barriers that make the desired behavior harder than it needs to be.
3. Recommend one nudge: Suggest a small, well-timed prompt I can embed at the moment of action to make the behavior more likely.
4. Offer a replacement: Propose a simple substitute behavior that fits the same cue but leads to a better outcome.
5. Create a short reinforcement plan: Outline how I can reinforce this new habit over the next 7–10 days without relying on motivation or willpower.
Keep all recommendations practical, behavior-based, and grounded in decision science.POLL
What’s Harder for You Right Now?
CURATED ROUNDUP
What to Review This Week
Watch: Nudge explained in less than 10 minutes by Pete Judo
Read: The Science of Habit Formation by Ramses Alcaide
Listen: Nudge: The Final Edition by Ricard Thaler
In Case You Missed It!
The Bottom Line
Influence isn’t just about what you say. It’s also about what you help others sustain.
When you understand how people actually change, you stop relying on persuasion alone.
You start designing environments where better decisions become the default.
That’s when your influence compounds.
Not through pressure, but through structure.
Not by forcing change, but by engineering it gently.
Thanks for reading. Be easy!
Girvin
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