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Exercise10 minEverydayRationality

The chain backward

The impulse is only the last link of a chain. Draw the steps that lead there, and break it where it is still easy.

The path

How it works

  1. The behavior and the chainWriteList
  2. Choose the breaking pointChooseWrite
  3. Make the link an alarmWrite
At the last link, with the candy in your hand, the argument already started, the hour gone in the flow, it is almost impossible to choose differently. But no one arrives there in one step. There is always a chain, and th …

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The evidence

Why does it work?

Chain analysis of behavior is classic behavior therapy and the core of modern habit research: behaviors are triggered by situational cues, and intervening early in the chain, ideally in the environment, works better than resisting at the final link (Wood & Rünger 2016; Duckworth et al. 2016 on situational strategies before willpower).

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