Design Defaults That Work

People reliably pick the path of least effort. Stop fighting that and use it — make the good choice the easy one:

• Want to work out at dawn? Sleep in your gym clothes.
• Want to snack better? Put fruit on the counter, hide the cookies up high.
• Want to read more? Leave a book on your pillow, social apps off the home screen.
• Want to save? Set an automatic transfer for payday.

The lever is friction. Add a few seconds to the bad option and most people quietly skip it; remove a few from the good one and they slide right into it. You are not rewriting your nature — you are pointing it at what you want.