Choice Architecture
F or our first activity, or tool that we can add to our optimization and self-mastery toolbox, we need to revisit Ulysses. The deal Ulysses made with his crew and his future self has become the model for an action that cognitive behaviorists call the Ulysses Pact. It’s also known as “choice architecture.”
As I’ve continued to research decision-making and talk to neuroscientists, it turns out, I’ve been onto something all this time.
For years, I’ve had a favorite saying that I relay to nutrition clients and gym members: “You can’t eat what you don’t have.”
This advice is built on the fact it is impossible to prepare a healthy meal at home if you have not previously acquired said healthy foods. Literally, we have zero chance of sticking to our diet if we don’t first acquire the right foods and fill our kitchens with them.
What I really love about this saying is that it holds equally true for poor food choices. If you never buy Oreos at the store, it significantly reduces your ability to eat foods that are not aligned with your stated goals.
Side note: if you’re trying to cut down on poor food choices, here’s a simple tip: stop f*cking buying them! Seriously, what do we think is going to happen when we bring those Oreos and ice cream home?
Back to my saying, it turns out that what I was coaching people to do is an example of this choice architecture. Choice architecture involves setting up better defaults so that when decision-making time comes, we’re more likely to make a better choice, regardless of our feelings or emotions in that given moment.
In a 2003 paper, researchers posited that cafeterias should be organized in a way that the first foods seen by customers are the healthiest options. Such positioning, they hypothesized, would increase the chance that a) hunger and b) mindless consumption would prompt food choices more in line with stated goals to eat healthy. 11
It worked. The subjects in the study made significantly healthier choices simply due to the rearrangement of foods presented in the cafeteria line.
Here’s another example from my life: I refuse to travel without healthy snacks. I know there will be situations when I’m hungry and won’t have access to the quality food choices I prefer. Rather than concede to situations outside of my control and hand over responsibility for my own actions, I stay in control and can stay on track because my past self took some steps to ensure my present self has better options at hand. It’s about awareness, preparation, strategy and commitment to values.
Second, the cafeteria study highlights how mindless most of us are as we move through life. Not just in food choices, although that is a major area of mindless choice in the US. But many of us may be supremely vigilant with food choices, yet extremely mindless with vehicle maintenance, clothing choices, or any of the thousands of other daily decisions we make subconsciously.
This is not inherently good or bad. There are areas of life where this can be used to our benefit, and there are areas of our life where this can unknowingly lead us astray. This is why awareness is the first step in becoming a better decision-maker.
Steve Jobs’s decision to wear the same black turtleneck, jeans, and tennis shoes every day demonstrates the power of putting unimportant choices on subconscious pathways in order to protect our mental bandwidth for more important choices. The crucial element to note is that the original decision was made with heightened awareness of values (wear same thing every day, stop wasting brainpower deciding what to wear, focus on important stuff) and done in a way to make future Steve more effective and more aligned with his goals and values.
Some areas of our life, like our morning commute or our wardrobe, can be put on autopilot. Others, like our relationships, child-rearing, and our personal development, should not be running on these subconscious pathways.
Realize that we are emotional, irrational human beings wired to make choices based on our feelings. Then start looking at the default choices we’ve set up for ourselves in our life. As my mentor Paul Reddick told me back in 2012, “Your life is perfectly designed for the results you’re currently getting.”
I’ll never forget that line. And when I realized I was watching twenty-four to thirty-six hours of TV a week (two hours each night, plus four or five hours a day on weekends), I realized I was spending a day or even a day and a half every week watching other people live their dreams instead of spending that time making my own dreams a reality.
Even on the low end, that one day per week came out to be 1/7 of my time, or 14% of my life. We immediately got rid of the TV. In the following twelve months, I built my gym, House of Strength, from zero members to a six-figure business.
Coincidence? I’m going to say no. Were there other factors and decisions involved? Absolutely. But many of those other factors involved setting up better default environments. I bought business and self-improvement books and left them in every room of my house, along with notepads. Guess what I started doing instead of watching TV?
The time to set up better defaults for ourselves is when we are most aware and most aligned with our values. I could have said, “Do this when you are most motivated,” but motivation does not last. Values last. Alignment is not permanent, but it lasts longer than motivation and can be realigned easily.
Sticking with our “you can’t eat what you don’t have” example, do your grocery shopping at ideal times (like after a workout, when you’re motivated to eat healthy), so you have better choices at home, do your meal prep, pack healthy snacks, and set yourself up for success.
Apply this to every area of your life where you want to make a change – finances, time management, sleep, nutrition, workouts, business, or relationships.
Success is never an accident. It may not happen as expected, but few people achieve the lives of their dreams by accident.
Like my grandfather used to say, “Prior preparation prevents piss poor performance.”
Creating Better Defaults
I’ve had the unique opportunity to learn from, befriend, work with, advise, and study the habits of nearly a dozen Navy SEALs over the last five years.
SEALs represent the epitome of mental toughness, and I love learning about their methods of honing elite human performance.
One of those SEALs was kind enough to answer a few questions about BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition School) on the condition of anonymity. I asked him how he made it through BUDS, the six-month Navy SEALs selection process that is famous for its drop-out rate of 80% or higher.
His answer was simple. He made a conscious commitment before the first day that he was not leaving a failure. He would not ring the bell that BUDS candidates ring to signal they’ve given up. He eliminated quitting as a choice. His choices became die trying or pass. Once he removed quitting as an option, it left his mind, and he never thought about it again. Make no mistake: dying was an option, but quitting wasn’t.
He created a different default option in his head before starting the journey, and in his lowest moments, his internal dialogue was drastically different than that of the 80% who quit. While the quitters’ choices were a) continue to be miserable or b) quit and go get warm, our hero’s choices were a) continue and pass or b) continue and die trying to realize his life’s dream. Quite literally, his only choice was to keep going. When we look at that mental dialogue, it’s really no surprise he made it through.
In case you’re wondering, I had to ask: how many times did he think he was going die? More than once. But his lowest point, he told me, came during a drill that is no longer in use where he actually thought, “Either I’m going to die or I’m going to finish, but I won’t quit.” He kept his wits about him, kept treading water (literally), kept focusing on one breath then the next, and made it through – both the drill and the selection process.
It reminds me of a quote from Will Smith (another high performer by any measure of the term):
If you and I get on the treadmill, one of two things is going to happen: either you’re going to get off first, or I’m going to die on that treadmill.
Successful people, whether they know it or not, are using choice architecture to manipulate their choices into more favorable outcomes, increasing their odds of adopting behaviors that are congruent with their long-term goals.
Do you need to risk death to win a bet on the treadmill or become an elite warrior? Probably not. But altering your perceived choices can have profound impacts on your results and your life.
There are two things over which we always have control: our attitude and our effort. I challenge you to first identify ways you are already using choice architecture to your advantage in your life, and then look for areas you can strengthen by incorporating this powerful behavior to influence better decisions in predictable situations of low willpower (they will come; it’s our responsibility to ourselves to be prepared for them).
I used the word “willpower” intentionally, so that I can tell you that I don’t believe in willpower. I believe in commitment to values. Fatigue and low mental bandwidth (poor vagal tone) can contribute to moments of “low willpower.” If we examine those times in our lives where we felt willpower was lowest, we’re likely to realize that fatigue and decreased vagal tone were factors. We’re also likely to see some temptation that, like the marshmallow, promised instant gratification.
If you find yourself feeling low on willpower, shift your focus from the present circumstances and ask yourself how you might handle this situation if your spouse or children were with you. How might you handle this situation if you first had to write down your five core values? How might the ultimate version of yourself handle this situation? Act as if you were that version of yourself, not the one in this current physiology state. F*ck Your Feelings.
If we’re truly committed to ourselves and our values, then we have infinite wells of willpower.
And we also have the following methods of creating better defaults for ourselves:
- If you want to get more steps per day, make it a “rule” that you park in the back of every single parking. No questions about it; parking in the back of the lot is just what you do. Always take the stairs, never the escalator or elevator. Make these default choices, and you will see a marked difference in how you act when presented with those options.
- If you want to cut out sweets, make it a rule that you don’t eat any foods with added sugars. Now it’s no longer a decision. There is no wiggle room – no room for rationalization in the moment.
- If you want to write a book, wake up early, block off one or two hours each morning, and write 1,000 words before you do anything else each day.
As you can see, it’s not about willpower. It’s about commitment to our core values and consciously designing our life to produce the results we want.
Focus on awareness, create choice, use this heightened alignment to create better default choices, and surround yourself with a community that celebrates you and encourages moonshots.
Instilling habits like these will directly generate progress in your life, and they’ll lead to indirect progress as you train your mind to make the best decision for your goals – even when it’s not the easiest or most convenient.
You will train your mind to think like the person you want to be, regardless of how you feel in an any given moment. The more we do this, the more we actually become that person.
Sleep
Sleep is one of (if not the ) single biggest factor in increasing our health, emotional bandwidth, vagal tone, and emotional resiliency. Simply put, inadequate quality or quantity of sleep results in measurable decreases in HRV (heart rate variability), which leads to reduced emotional resiliency.
Look no further than your last red-eye flight or talk to the parents of newborn children, and you’ll see what a lack of sleep does to our capacity to deal with things.
That “short emotional fuse,” as a 2015 Israeli study calls it, may be due to increased amygdala activity. Yes, the same amygdala that is part of the limbic system we’re trying to override with everything we’ve discussed in this book. 12 Sleep, or the lack thereof, has a measurable and immediate negative impact on our states, leads to decreased performance, and deleteriously alters course when chronically dysfunctional. 13 , 14 , 15
Consider this personal experiment conducted by neuroscientist Dr. Sarah McKay, discussed in her TEDx talk “Indulge Your Neurobiology.”
Dr. McKay intentionally altered her sleep with light exposure and measured how the lack of sleep impacted her brain. She experienced significant decreased motor control (she dropped acid in the lab more than once) and “felt out of control emotionally.” 16
Our anecdotal experiences, and that of Dr. McKay, are supported by research on sleep and its impact on HRV, happiness, health, and decision-making.
Better sleep increases HRV
Subjects with sleep apnea were treated with a CPAP machine; the resulting improvements in sleep led to an acute increase in HRV after a single night. 17
A 1997 study of college students concluded that sleep quality is more important than quantity. Both of these make sense. Sleep is a restorative, mostly parasympathetic activity. As we’ve seen, more time in these PNS states increases HRV. 18
Another study, this one from 2013, found that low-quality sleep makes the amygdala up to 60% more reactive (not a good thing – remember that the amygdala is the emotional driver of the limbic system). We want the prefrontal cortex and our higher levels of consciousness running the show. 19
Sleep is when our brains remove the metabolic waste from the previous day. This waste includes a compound called adenosine, a natural byproduct of healthy functioning. The problems arise when that builds up because it has not been cleared during our sleep. We feel less alert, less mentally sharp, and “foggier.” 20
Sleep, health and happiness
In a Harvard Health Review, inadequate levels of sleep were linked to higher levels of stress (lower HRV) and higher incidences of depression. 21
Using both electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain waves and functional MRI to view neural activity, the Israeli researchers mentioned at the top of this section found that decreased sleep lowers the threshold for emotional activation and leads to increased anxiety and reduced emotional resiliency. 22
Sleep disordered breathing, which has previously been linked to reductions in sleep quality, has been so strongly linked to dysfunctions in glucose intolerance and insulin resistance that it may lead to type 2 diabetes, according to a 2004 study. 23
23 . www.academic.oup.com/aje/article/160/6/521/79596/Sleep-Disordered-Breathing-Glucose-Intolerance-and .
Sleep and decision-making
Sleep experiments conducted by psychologist David Dinges, PhD, revealed that “people who get fewer than eight hours of sleep per night show pronounced cognitive and physiological deficits, including memory impairments, a reduced ability to make decisions and dramatic lapses in attention.” His research also showed that these negative effects compound over time. 24
Sleep improves learning and memory
Sleeping has been shown to help us process and retain information. In fact, sleeping or taking a nap after learning new material helps improves memory consolidation and performance after sleep. 25 , 26
25 . Dinges D.F. et al., Cumulative Sleepiness, Mood Disturbance and Psychomotor Vigilance Performance Decrements During a Week of Sleep Restricted to 4-5 Hours Per Night, Journal of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine , 1997, 20, 267-277.
26 . Simon, H. Sleep Helps Learning, Memory. Harvard Health. February 2012.
This exciting study published in 2016 found that HF (high frequency) HRV during sleep helped consolidate memories. Researchers “hypothesize that central nervous system processes that favor peripheral vagal activity during REM sleep may lead to increases in plasticity that promote associative processing.” 27
As part of our “everything is everything” theory, sleep increases HRV, emotional resiliency, and neural plasticity. Neural plasticity, as we’ll explore, helps us rewire the desirable habits and traits we want (need) for long-term embodiment of the elevated states of consciousness in which we seek to live.
The image below is a great diagram of the interrelated neurovisceral, vagal nerve integrations we’ve been discussing through this book.
Tips to enhance sleep
Sleep is crucial, but how can you ensure consistent, high-quality sleep?
It starts with a focus on what we call “sleep hygiene.” Also known as “bedtime routine,” the effectiveness of this ritual lies in the power of conditioning. Like Pavlov’s famous research with salivating dogs, we become conditioned to prepare for sleep if we do the same thing each night before going to bed.
Every expert and website on the Internet has their own take on what this bedtime routine should look like. I say sample many, keep the elements that work for you, and discard the rest.
Remember it’s not about how many things you can add to a routine; it’s about getting better, more consistent sleep. Don’t lose sight of your main goal.
This routine should help you wind down, shift your body from sympathetic to parasympathetic state (also called “rest and digest”), and, over time, condition your brain and body to begin this shift at the same time every day.
Some common parasympathetic-inducing activities include taking a warm bath, using essential oils like lavender or eucalyptus that are known to promote calm and relaxation, doing breathing exercises, reading a book (avoiding screens and maybe avoiding non-fiction books that “stimulate” your mind), meditating and doing a gratitude journaling session. 28
28 . Wood A.M. et al., Gratitude Influences Sleep Through the Mechanism of Pre-Sleep Cognitions, The Journal of Psychosomatic Research , 2009 Jan; 66(1):43-8.
Perhaps the two most important things to do (or avoid) to promote better sleep are avoiding blue light after dark and avoiding caffeine after a certain time. That caffeine cut-off time will vary from one individual to the next, but I typically recommend 1-2pm as the latest.
After dark, try to limit blue light exposure by wearing blue-blocker glasses, using programs like F.lux or Iris on your computer and phone, and limit screen time as much as possible. This will be a lifestyle shift for many, but remember: “Your life is perfectly designed for the results you’re currently getting.” If you want better sleep, be prepared to make some shifts.
The ultimate sleep environment is one area where I disagree with many. My recommendations are based on conversations with sleep researchers, naturopathic doctors, and ancestral health experts.
The main idea they all agree on is that our ancestors slept in cycles. The old and young normally went to bed first, followed by the adolescents and women. Some men then went to bed, but others stayed up as sentries to guard the tribe. The elderly usually woke before the others. Of course, there were (and are) individual variations, but the point is that there was usually a fire burning and someone stirring about.
So the common recommendations that you must sleep in absolute darkness and absolute silence are not serious concerns for me. I’d rather you focus on reducing blue light after dark and limiting caffeine to get high-quality, restorative sleep.
There is research to support sleeping in a colder than average room. Studies put the optimal range between 62 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit, with 66 being the ideal number. 29
I also recommend shutting off your Wi-Fi at night. You’re not using it, and there is evidence that constant exposure to it could be harmful to our health. An even better option would be to ditch your Wi-Fi and use hard-wired ethernet cables, but I realize most will not do that. So use one of those holiday light timers and set your Wi-Fi to turn off from 10pm to 6am every day (or whenever you sleep). Eight hours a night will save you nearly 120 days of exposure over the course of a year.
If you’re going to put all of this effort into improving sleep quality, you might as well track it. And the best way to track it is HRV. Despite everything written in this book, I have yet to find an HRV measuring device that I’m happy with. They all have flaws and frustrations, and the only reason I put up with them is the valuable data; it’s like waking up and trying to shuck a raw oyster with a butter knife.
I’ve used a finger sensor that was hard-wired to my phone and a Bluetooth heart rate monitor, but both frustrated me to the point where I stopped using them daily. For this reason, I don’t track HRV every day. I will check it using one of these two methods once or twice a week, if the technology cooperates.
The Oura ring is a friction-free method. It’s worth noting that the measurement provided (at this point) is not a true HRV. They describe their “readiness” score as a composite value based on 24-hour rolling HRV along with other data it collects.
You can also track your sleep with something like Sleep Cycle or Beddit, but again, I’m not a fan of Wi-Fi exposure during sleep. To me, not knowing is better than the alternative of increased exposure.
It’s worth noting that both Brain.fm and neurofeedback can improve sleep quality. Brain.fm boasts a 2 to 4X increase in brain function, with increased slow-wave sleep when using their sleep music. You’ll need special sleep headphones that you can purchase on Amazon, and be sure to download the sleep track so you can listen with your phone on airplane mode and the Wi-Fi /Bluetooth antennas turned off.
Throughout the book so far, we’ve mentioned HRV several times without defining exactly what it is or why it’s so important. We’re going to dive into that now, and you’ll realize how inextricably linked all of our body’s systems truly are.