Design beats willpower — a framework by Ole Wang

Hand-drawn diagram of framework 56, Design beats willpower: You don't run out. You run into friction. — Framework 56 · in one look

How to use it

"Willpower is a battery" failed when 23 labs tried to repeat it. You don't run out; you run into friction. When a habit fails, ask "what made this hard to start?", not "why am I weak?" Make the good thing easy and the bad thing one step further away.

How sure we are

S Evidence: strong. Large trials or many studies, pointing the same way.

Sources

Hagger et al. 2016 (preregistered, 23 labs) · in a semester-long study, how hard students resisted temptation was unrelated to reaching their goals; meeting fewer temptations predicted success (Milyavskaya & Inzlicht 2017, experience sampling, 🟡; via Ali Abdaal).

Not medical, legal or financial advice.

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