Coaching practices for Bundling Outcomes
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Bundling Outcomes, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’m chasing the promotion and only seeing the title and the money, but everyone I know who got it ended up with the travel, the on-call hours, the constant fires
- I told myself I’d only watch my show while on the treadmill, but I just watch it whenever I feel like it, so there’s no reason left to actually get on the machine
- The things that are good for me all pay off way later, so in the moment they just feel like a chore, and the stuff that feels good right now keeps winning
- On my own I skip this without a second thought, but when a friend is counting on me to show up, suddenly the time with them is the part I look forward to and the chore just comes along for the ride.
- I keep getting hit by bad news in a slow drip of separate little blows that drag the pain out forever, while I lump all my good news into one moment that’s over in a flash
Practices that may help
- Temptation Bundling, Made Practical
Temptation bundling — pairing something you want to do with something you should do — has direct experimental support from Katherine Milkman’s gym-attendance research, where bundling audiobooks with exercise meaningfully increased visits. Effects are real but decay over time and after disruptions, so bundling is a habit-starter rather than a permanent motivator. - Name trade-off anti-goals: conditions that come bundled with attractive outcomes
Many desirable outcomes come packaged with specific costs — name the hidden costs as anti-goals before you commit.
Anti-Goals: Defining Success by What You Refuse to Accept - Design a bundle where the want is only available during the should
Make the temptation exclusively accessible during the healthy behavior — restriction is the active ingredient.
Temptation Bundling, Made Practical - Make it attractive with temptation bundling
Pair a behavior you should do with one you want to do.
Atomic Habits, Made Practical - Bundle the should with social connection
Add a social element to an avoided behavior to make it rewarding in the moment through connection.
Temptation Bundling, Made Practical - Choose when to combine and when to separate outcomes
How you bundle gains and losses changes how they feel — and how you act on them.
Mental Accounting, Made Practical - Bundle an immediate pleasure with a deferred obligation
Permit yourself an enjoyable activity only while doing the task you keep avoiding — pair present reward with future-oriented behavior.
Hyperbolic Discounting — Why Future You Always Gets the Short End - Audit your wants and shoulds to find bundle candidates
List the things you want to do but feel guilty about alongside the things you know you should do but avoid.
Temptation Bundling, Made Practical - Distinguish outcomes from tasks when setting your three
An outcome is a result you can evaluate; a task is an activity you can check off — only outcomes tell you whether the day succeeded.
The Rule of Three for Productivity, Made Practical - Reframe the should as offering something desirable right now, not later
Shift your mental representation of the healthy behavior from "future benefit" to "present experience."
Temptation Bundling, Made Practical
Related concerns
- Temptation Bundling As A Caregiver
Temptation bundling — pairing something you want to do with something you should do — has direct experimental support from Katherine Milkman’s gym-attendance research, where bundling audiobooks with exercise meaningfully increased visits. Effects are real but decay over time and after disruptions, so bundling is a habit-starter rather than a permanent motivator.
- Finding Temptation Bundle Pairs
Temptation bundling — pairing something you want to do with something you should do — has direct experimental support from Katherine Milkman’s gym-attendance research, where bundling audiobooks with exercise meaningfully increased visits. Effects are real but decay over time and after disruptions, so bundling is a habit-starter rather than a permanent motivator.
- Temptation Bundling At Work
Temptation bundling — pairing something you want to do with something you should do — has direct experimental support from Katherine Milkman’s gym-attendance research, where bundling audiobooks with exercise meaningfully increased visits. Effects are real but decay over time and after disruptions, so bundling is a habit-starter rather than a permanent motivator.
- Temptation Bundling When Starting Out
Temptation bundling — pairing something you want to do with something you should do — has direct experimental support from Katherine Milkman’s gym-attendance research, where bundling audiobooks with exercise meaningfully increased visits. Effects are real but decay over time and after disruptions, so bundling is a habit-starter rather than a permanent motivator.
- Temptation Bundling With Friends
Temptation bundling — pairing something you want to do with something you should do — has direct experimental support from Katherine Milkman’s gym-attendance research, where bundling audiobooks with exercise meaningfully increased visits. Effects are real but decay over time and after disruptions, so bundling is a habit-starter rather than a permanent motivator.
- Katherine Milkman Temptation Bundling
Temptation bundling — pairing something you want to do with something you should do — has direct experimental support from Katherine Milkman’s gym-attendance research, where bundling audiobooks with exercise meaningfully increased visits. Effects are real but decay over time and after disruptions, so bundling is a habit-starter rather than a permanent motivator.
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