Behavior Change

Evidence-based behavior change practices.

45 concepts in this area — each broken into concrete practices with the real mechanism, an honest read on the evidence, and how to practice it with IX Coach.

• Accountability Partners — Do accountability partners actually make you more likely to follow through?
• Action Planning — How does action planning bridge the gap between intending to change and actually changing?
• Affect Forecasting: Why You Mispredicted How You’d Feel — Why are people so bad at predicting how they’ll feel in the future — and how can you use that insight?
• Atomic Habits, Made Practical — How do you actually build habits using the Atomic Habits method?
• Bright-Line Rules: When "None" Beats "Some" — What are bright-line rules and why are they easier to keep than moderation?
• Choice Architecture, Made Practical — How does the design of your environment shape your decisions without you realizing it?
• Classical Conditioning and Habit Triggers — How does classical conditioning explain why habits form automatically around cues?
• Commitment Contracts, Made Practical — How do commitment contracts help you follow through on goals?
• Contingency Management and Token Economies — How does contingency management use structured rewards to change behavior — and does it work?
• Counter-Conditioning and Systematic Desensitization — How does systematic desensitization help you overcome fear and anxiety?
• Don't Break the Chain: The Streak Method — What is the don't-break-the-chain method and does keeping a streak actually work?
• Environment Design for Behavior Change — How does redesigning your environment change behavior without willpower?
• Feedback Loops and Behavior Change — How do feedback loops shape behavior, and how do you design them to work for you?
• Gamification of Habits — Does turning habits into a game with points and levels actually work?
• Habit Reversal Training, Made Practical — How does habit reversal training help you break unwanted repetitive behaviors?
• Habit Substitution: Swap the Routine, Keep the Reward — How do you replace a bad habit with a good one instead of just quitting it?
• Habit Tracking — Does tracking your habits actually help you stick to them?
• Identity Priming, Made Practical — How does activating your identity before a task change your behavior?
• If–Then Planning, Made Practical — How do if–then plans help you follow through on goals when it’s hardest?
• Keystone Habits: The Few Changes That Cascade — What are keystone habits, and how do you find the one that changes everything?
• Mental Contrasting and WOOP — How does mental contrasting (WOOP) actually help you achieve goals?
• Micro Habits: Start Absurdly Small — What are micro habits and why does starting absurdly small actually work?
• Mini Habits, Made Practical — How do mini habits work and why are they better than motivation-based approaches?
• Motivational Interviewing, Made Practical — How does motivational interviewing actually help people change?
• Naive Realism: Why Everyone Thinks They See Things as They Are — What is naive realism, and why does it make conflict and misunderstanding so hard to resolve?
• Nudge Theory, Made Practical — How do nudges change behavior without restricting choices?
• Operant Conditioning and Schedules of Reinforcement — How do reward schedules shape behavior, and which ones produce the most durable habits?
• Precommitment Devices (Ulysses Contracts) — What are precommitment devices and do they actually change behavior?
• Reward Substitution — How do you motivate yourself to do things whose payoff is far in the future?
• Self-Monitoring, Made Practical — How does self-monitoring help you change behavior and build self-awareness?
• Self-Regulation Failure and Ego Depletion — Why does willpower run out, and what actually helps when it does?
• Social Cognitive Theory — How does social cognitive theory explain behavior change — and what does it say about self-efficacy?
• Stimulus Control, Made Practical — How does stimulus control help you change behavior by changing your environment?
• Temptation Bundling, Made Practical — Does temptation bundling actually work to build habits, and how do you do it?
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Made Practical — What are the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and how do you apply them?
• The COM-B Model and Behavior Change Wheel — How does the COM-B model explain why behavior change fails or succeeds?
• The Fogg Behavior Model, Made Practical — How does BJ Fogg’s behavior model explain why habits succeed or fail?
• The Fresh Start Effect — Why do we start goals on Mondays and January 1st — and does it actually help?
• The Habit Discontinuity Effect — Why are major life transitions the best time to change habits?
• The Habit Loop, Made Practical — How does the cue-routine-reward habit loop work and how do you use it to change behavior?
• The Miracle Morning, Made Practical — What is the Miracle Morning routine and do the SAVERS actually work?
• The Power of Habit, Made Practical — How does the habit loop from The Power of Habit actually work?
• The Transtheoretical Model of Change, Made Practical — What are the stages of change and how do you use them to build better habits?
• The Two-Day Rule: Never Skip Twice — What is the two-day rule and how does it keep you consistent without perfectionism?
• Tiny Habits, Made Practical — How do you build habits with BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits method?