262: A Deep Dive Into What Makes or Breaks Habits, With Nir Eyal

When Nir Eyal has a burning question (which he frequently does), he goes on the hunt for an insightful answer. That curiosity is what led Eyal to publish his first and wildly popular book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. He was inspired to delve into this topic after launching a startup in the advertising and gaming industry, where he observed that product design had the powerful ability to change human behavior. Eyal wondered why some companies were so good at it while others failed. In this fascinating interview, we chat with Eyal about his early days as an entrepreneur, the behavioral model behind forming habits and get a sneak peek into Eyal’s upcoming book Indistractable: Mastering the Skill of the Century. Plus, Eyal uses Nathan as a live case study and shares his best tips for breaking bad habits! Whether you’re an entrepreneur who wants to better understand the link between product design and human behavior, or you’re an individual looking for tangible ways to build better habits, this is an episode you don’t want to miss. Key Takeaways The story behind Eyal’s successful startups in the solar power, advertising, and gaming industries How observing the behavior change through product design led to a burning question in Eyal’s mind Eyal’s journey to understanding the deeper psychology behind how products are designed to be habit forming The principles behind the Hook Model, and how the Bible is a perfect example How Eyal’s own book inadvertently helped him improve his physical fitness How his desire to control his attention inspired Eyal’s upcoming book Indistractable: Mastering the Skill of the Century A sneak peek into techniques from Eyal’s new book to help people overcome internal triggers A live case study with Nathan to help him address the habits he wants to break Why high levels of distraction at a company are usually symptoms of a bigger problem