Nate’s Notes 55: Katy Milkman | Temptation Bundling & Mentoring

Katy Milkman could have shared lessons for days, so I’m especially intrigued by the two lessons she did share.

First, when we make it fun to pursue goals, we get further, faster. For example, if we dread exercise, but we love listening to podcasts, we can bundle those two activities, which Katy calls temptation bundling, and then we’ll be significantly more likely to exercise.

Second, by becoming a coach or mentor to someone else, we can improve our own performance. For example, high school students in Florida gave advice on successful study habits to their peers, and in turn the students giving the advice improved their own performance. Plus, it’s rewarding psychologically when we help others by sharing what we know.

In summary, use temptation bundling to achieve our goals, and strive to coach and mentor others. Both  simple ideas. Please take them seriously.

Katy Milkman Bio:

Katy Milkman is a Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and host of the popular behavioral economics podcast Choiceology. Katy has advised dozens of organizations on how to spur positive change, including Google, the U.S. Department of Defense, the American Red Cross, 24 Hour Fitness, Walmart and Morningstar among others.

Katy is also an award-winning scholar and teacher, and writes frequently for outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Economist. Her bestselling book How to Change, was named one of the eight best books for healthy living by the New York Times, and Katy was also named one the world’s top 50 Management thinkers by Thinkers50.

Katy earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University (summa cum laude) and her PhD from Harvard University where she studied Computer Science and Business.

I hope you enjoyed learning from Katy Milkman, because I always do.