Researchers believe that when a task isn’t sufficiently rewarding, our brains search for something more interesting to think about.

You have a big deadline looming, and it’s time to hunker down. But every time you start working, you find that, for some reason, your mind drifts off before you can get any real work done. What gives? What is this cruel trick our brains play on us, and what do we do about it?

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: How to Tame Your Wandering Mind and Actually Get Some Work Done https://www.nirandfar.com/taming-a-wandering-mind/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

Most people are stingy with their money and generous with their time. Here’s why that’s backward.

Have you noticed how we use the same words to describe our relationship to time as we do our relationship to money?

We spend time, just as we spend money.

We make time, just as we make money.

We pay attention, just as we pay with dollars and cents.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: If You Don’t Plan Your Time, Someone Else Will https://www.nirandfar.com/plan-your-time-or-someone-else-will/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

Finding an accountability buddy is a simple and highly effective way to keep yourself going.

When you’re struggling to achieve your personal or professional goals, do you ever wish you could speak with a famous mentor? If only you could connect with a super successful business leader like Jeff Bezos or Meg Whitman, then you’d have the answers you’re looking for. Surely they’d point you in the right direction, right?

Think again.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: You Don’t Need a Mentor. You Need a Buddy. https://www.nirandfar.com/you-need-an-accountability-buddy/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

How I Stopped Letting Tech Ruin My Love Life

Every night, my wife and I engaged in the same routine: She put our daughter to bed, brushed her teeth, and freshened up. We both slipped under the covers, exchanged knowing glances, and started doing what comes naturally to a couple in bed: we began to lovingly caress our gadgets—she fondled her cell phone, while I tenderly stroked the screen of my iPad. Ooh, it felt so good!We were having a love affair—with our gadgets instead of each other.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: Would You Rather Give Up Sex or Your Phone? https://www.nirandfar.com/give-up-sex-or-phone/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

There’s nothing wrong with some device time. Just use these tips to make sure your kids don’t overdo it.

It’s that time of year when kids have a long break from school and parents and guardians likely have some time off work.

What will we do with all that free time?

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: Here’s How to Ensure Your Kids Don’t Spend the Entire Break Staring at Screens https://www.nirandfar.com/kids-on-screens-during-break/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

By Annie Graham

Many people strive to improve themselves in one way or another. Whether it’s getting more sleep and exercise, or spending more time doing the things we love, our ideal selves drive us to be better. They symbolize our belief in our own potential to live in alignment with our values.

The drive to improve is also why strategies and tools that enable us to track our behaviors are so potentially gratifying. It feels good to see ourselves moving closer to our goals.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: Free Habit Tracker Template — Use this Sleek Google Doc (and download your FREE Habit Tracker there) https://www.nirandfar.com/habit-tracker/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

In fifth grade, I was the only Jewish kid in my elementary school class. This was the 1980’s in Central Florida and even though it was a public school, unaffiliated with any church and funded with taxpayer dollars, my teacher taped a poster to the wall in her classroom that read, “Jesus Is The Reason For The Season.”

I wasn’t offended per se. I’m pretty sure at ten, I didn’t know what that word meant. But I could tell the teacher was sending a message to anyone in her class who might have different beliefs—such as, say, that the tilt of the earth on its axis is the reason for the seasons.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: I Changed My Mind About Saying “Merry Christmas,” and You Should Too https://www.nirandfar.com/saying-merry-christmas

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

Distractions seem ubiquitous today, but they’ve always been a part of human life. Here’s how to resist them.

Distractions impede us from making progress toward the life we want for ourselves.

To visualize this, imagine a line that represents the value of everything you do throughout your day. To the right, the actions are positive; to the left, they are negative.

The positive actions represent traction: they draw or pull us toward what we want in life. The word “traction,” in fact, comes from the Latin trahere, meaning to draw or pull.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: How the Ancient Greeks Beat Distraction https://www.nirandfar.com/tantalizing-distractions/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

Trying to build a habit can backfire if you fall for this trap  

These days, when someone says they want to form a “habit,” what they often mean is that they want to make drudgery effortless. That is, they don’t want to actually do the work, rather they want to have done it—past tense.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: Habits Are Overrated https://www.nirandfar.com/habit-trap/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

This highly effective technique harnesses the power of “loss aversion” to help you reach your goals

Probably the only research paper I’ll ever call “delicious” is one called, “A Tale of Two Pizzas.”

In the study, researchers offered one group of people plain pizzas, plus the option to add ingredients for an additional charge. To a second group, they offered topping-loaded pizzas, with the chance to remove ingredients and pay less. Same thing, right?

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: Need Motivation? Make a Price Pact https://www.nirandfar.com/price-pact/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/