Brian Johnson explains Robert Cialdini's commitment-and-consistency principle: homeowners who agreed to a small sticker were 70% more likely to accept a large billboard later, versus 83% refusing when asked directly. The trick is minifying big habits into one-minute wins and writing down commitments to follow through.
83%
Over 70% (reported as "70% plus")
Foreign. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another micro class. This one's on influence yourself, Inspired by Influence by Robert Cialdini. So great book. Talks about the six different triggers of influence that we talk about in the notes. So check out the note for more on that. I want to focus on one of the triggers, which is commitment and consistency. The basic idea is that once we commit to something, we like to be consistent, this can be used for good or for ill. We're going to talk about how to influence yourself by being consistent. Here's a research study that Robert shares to bring the point home. So imagine that you live in a neighborhood. There's your house, right? And someone comes up to you and says, hey, would you be cool putting a huge billboard on your front lawn that says this? Drive safely on it? And it's written in like some horrible font. It actually is bigger and it kind of covers your whole front lawn, right? Covers your house. It's just terrible, right? Would you like to put this in your front lawn? Well, Understandably, something like 83% of the people will say, no, thank you, I'm not going to comply with your request. You did not have influence over me. But a second group had been approached two weeks earlier and they were asked a much simpler request. They said, hey, would you mind putting a tiny little 3 inch sticker in your window that says be a safe driver or something like that, right? And almost everybody said, sure, I can do that. I'll support the community. Be a safe driver. I'll do that. I'll take that little baby step, right? Then two weeks later, a different volunteer came back and asked them the same question I just asked here. Hey, you want to put a huge billboard up in your front lawn that covers your whole house and looks horrible? 83% of the people who were asked that initially said no. But now, after the people have already made this tiny little step, something like 70% plus of the people, four times more people said yes to this request after they had said yes to this little baby request. Now that's interesting for a lot of reasons. First of all, don't make tiny little yes commitments to something you don't want to see expand because of this commitment and consistency, right? Don't do that to yourself. Don't commit to things that you don't really want to see grow in your life, right? And to others, organizations, et cetera. But you stated positively, we can use this as a force for good. The basic idea here is that if you can take a small step in your life, the Odds are it will be easier to take a bigger step. So we talk about this a lot in habits 101, where we talk about the wisdom from a bunch of books, including a great one called Mini Habits, where he encourages exactly this. Stephen Guys does take a small step. Identify the habit that you want to install. As you think about it right now, what's the number one habit that you think you could install that would most improve your life? What is it? Maybe it's working out five times a week, 30 or 40 minutes a day or whatever, right? You got a big habit. Well, the mini habits idea would be minify that or make that a microhabit. What tiny little thing? Because you're trying the big thing out the gate. What tiny little thing could you do if it's working out for 30 minutes five times a week? What if it was working out for one minute five times a week? You just minified that big goal. Now, that might sound absurd, but you got to remember this research. We like commitment and consistency. We like creating wins. And. And this is a great way to create wins. So check out the notes on Mini Habits for more. But know that that's a little small step, which is a whole other book, by the way, called One Small Step, which we featured as well. Check that out on our site. And no, again, commitment and consistency are big. So what's your habit? How do you break that down into a tiny little habit? And then another way to strengthen the likelihood that you're going to follow through is very simple. Write down your goals and share it. Robert says that the more effort we put into forming our commitments, the more likely it is we will follow through on our commitments. So this little small step is huge. And then writing it down and sharing it is also huge. There you go. A couple of quick ideas on how to influence yourself. Hope you enjoyed. Have another awesome day. See ya.
Isn't it a bit odd that we went from math to science to history, but somehow missed the class on how to live? For some wacky reason, optimal living 101 never made the schedule. Of course, it's too late to go back and change that and you're too busy to read full time to catch up.
Yet.
If you're like us, you're all about optimizing your life and actualizing your potential. So imagine this. Imagine having someone read the best books on optimal living and pulling out the big ideas that can truly change your life. You know those sections, you asterisk and underline and mark all up. Then imagine that guy, me, connecting those.
Ideas to other great books in helping.
You apply them to your life today. Well, that's what I do with something we call Philosopher's Notes where I break down each great book into a simple 6 page PDF, 20 minute MP3 and 10 minute Philosopher's Notes TV episode. Then imagine me taking the absolute best.
Big ideas from those great books and.
Sharing them with you in fun, inspiring, super practical, optimal living 101 classes on stuff like purpose 101, confidence 101, business 101, meditation 101, that sort of thing.
You've got a personal trainer?
I'm kind of like your personal philosopher. Ancient wisdom plus Modern science plus Common sense plus Virtue plus Mastery plus Fun. That's what our optimized membership program is all about. We'd love to have you join us. Check us out at BrianJohnson. Me join.
