Design for Your Two Systems

Ok, so you’ve met the two systems in your brain, and are perhaps noticing them in action. Here are a few more examples: System 1: Your phone is on silent but you see it glow and get mildly distracted. This is automatic. But you can use your system 2 thinking and put it out of eyesight. Classic example is you keep snacking - automatically while watching TV until the bag of whatever you were eating is empty. System 2 can come to the rescue by portioning out a small serving and putting the bag back high in the cupboard. We can tweak also System 1 to work for us. For instance, you get a notification to stand up and stretch every hour or you can prep cut fruit so that you automatically make a healthy smoothie when you open the fridge. The idea is that once you can spot the difference between fast and slow thinking, you can begin to create a little more space between trigger and reaction, but more importantly, you can design your environment to work with you!