How To Achieve Your Goals By Combining What You WANT And What You SHOULD: Temptation Bundling

We all have dreams, goals, and positive habits that we'd like to pursue.

But everyone knows that these things are easier said than done.
We should go to the gym 5 times a week, but we want to watch Netflix.
We should eat less sugar, but we want that dessert.
We should floss our teeth everyday, but we want to get right into bed.
It's time to get our shoulds and wants in balance!

The wants usually outnumber the shoulds, and we give in - but what if you could actually use those wants to achieve more shoulds ?

This is where the concept of TEMPTATION BUNDLING comes in: combining a "want" with a "should".

Let's say your "should" is to go to the gym 5 times a week.
But your "want" is to watch a certain youtuber's videos.
What if you were only allowed to watch these videos when on the treadmill at the gym? Would you be more motivated to go to the gym often? Probably yes!

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Study - Temptation Bundling

In 2014, associate professor and researcher Katherine Milkman conducted a study titled "Holding The Hunger Games Hostage At The Gym".

The 226 volunteers all had the goal of going to the gym more regularly.
They were split into 3 different groups - one group was credited 4 audiobooks of their choice (like "The Hunger Games"), and encouraged only to listen to them while working out, and the second group could only access the audiobooks at the gym itself. The third group was the control group, who was motivated with a $25 gift card that they could receive if they'd visit the gym regularly over the 10-week study period.

Results

The results of the study were quite amazing - the group which was only allowed to listen to audio books at the gym, made 51% more gym visits than the control group!
In comparison, even the second group made 29 percent more visits to the gym, which is still a very good result after 10 weeks.

Our findings highlight that the potential for temptation bundling to improve outcomes for those facing self-control problems is considerable, especially given that they offer a low-cost, simultaneous solution to two common willpower problems (underengagement in shoulds and overengagement in wants) and harness the potential motivational benefits of complementarities between wants and shoulds.

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How to use Temptation Bundling to your own advantage

So the concept of temptation bundling sounds good in theory, but it's nothing more than a concept until we take action.
Make a list with two columns, and write down all your shoulds and wants.
Next, take a look at which tasks you could combine - obviously not everything goes together.
Draw lines between the shoulds and wants until you've ideally found a pair for every task.
Make sure that you don't combine contradictory tasks though - if your should is to eat healthier, your want can't be to have dessert as a reward after the gym.

A few good examples are:
-Only watch your favorite TV show when doing house chores
-Only listen to your favorite audiobooks / podcasts on your way to work to put you in a good mood
-Only go to your favorite Cafè to work at specific tasks there

Temptation bundling really does work - if the "want" is strong enough and you really stick to your own rule (no cheating!) then this could be a very effective way to combine your "wants" with "shoulds" and achieve your personal goal.