A Day in the Life of a Neuro-Nudge Practitioner
Struggling to align your daily actions with your life goals? You're not alone. Jim, a 35-year-old with a demanding job and a young family, felt the same way. Discover how he’s using the Neuro-Nudge Framework and our new app to build willpower, achieve his goals, and get back in shape.
Background
Jim was a big athlete in his younger days and has the nagging injuries to prove it (bulging discs and a pinched nerve in his shoulder, to name a few). He’s an ambitious guy but has to balance his career with family life as he and his wife just had their first child. He has big goals and aspirations but finds his actions rarely meet his ambitions as he gives in to the temptations of taking the easier road more often than he’d like to admit.
What does he want out of life? He wants what a lot of people want. He wants to be healthier, make more money to provide for his family, and have a good relationship with his wife and daughter. He’s also been wanting to get back into some form of athletic competition, which can often be difficult with his nagging injuries.
Jim Discover’s Neuro-Nudge
Jim came across Neuro-Nudge and was intrigued by the ability to enhance his willpower through training. He wants to get in shape, so why does he hit the snooze button in the morning instead of going to the gym? Why does he not spend four hours every weekend on his side hustle as he plans? With Neuro-Nudge, he realizes the answer is pretty simple... He needs to strengthen his willpower.
Ready to transform his life, he signed up for the Neuro-Nudge Foundations Course and downloaded the free app to his iPhone.
The first thing he did, as outlined in the course, was identify what neuro-nudges he could incorporate into his day and how they align with his goals. What are some things he struggles with that he’d have to actively overcome internal resistance to do (or not do)? Here’s a sample of the list he came up with.
Jim’s Neuro-Nudge List
A few things to note about the above list:
The list covers different categories, but some of them relate to the same goal (the Spartan Race).
These are all activities that he knows he needs to do but often struggles to actually accomplish.
Most are written in a flexible way – e.g., "Meditate" (there is no time limit. Some days he might have 10 minutes to meditate, others he might have 30). This flexibility removes the ability to make excuses for not doing a certain activity. Something is always better than nothing.
There will be Neuro-Nudges that Jim does that are not on this list. For example, if he is in the shower and decides to challenge himself by spending the last minute with freezing cold water, he could log this in the app as “cold-exposure” or “cold-shower.” The more Neuro-Nudges he completes each day, the faster he’ll strengthen his willpower and move closer to his goals.
A Day in the Life of Jim’s Program
Jim’s alarm goes off at 5 am. Instead of hitting the snooze button, he gets up, laces up his shoes, and goes to the gym.
Wake up early: 3 neuro-nudge points
Workout: 2 neuro-nudge points
Jim heads to work around 9 am and has a 30-minute commute. It's a brisk 45 degrees out, so to challenge himself, he rolls down his windows for the first 15 minutes of his drive and has no music playing.
Cold exposure: 3 neuro-nudge points
At Jim’s lunch break, he decides to go for a short 20-minute walk and do his PT exercises in one of the conference rooms that is not in use.
Walk: 1 neuro-nudge point
PT exercises: 1 neuro-nudge point
After work, he goes home and spends 2 hours with his wife and daughter before working on his side hustle for an hour and then reading his entrepreneurship book before bed.
Side Hustle Work: 1 neuro-nudge point
Read book: 1 neuro-nudge point
As you can see, Jim didn’t complete every neuro-nudge on the list he created, and he even did some that weren’t on the list. That’s perfectly fine, and that is how the framework is intended to be used. The flexibility and spontaneity of incorporating neuro-nudges into your day-to-day life not only eliminate excuses but also allow you to engage in and overcome mini-challenges throughout the day that snowball into large successes. Neuro-Nudge can be thought of as a flexible habit-building program with a focus on getting outside your comfort zone to strengthen your willpower.
The Results
Jim ultimately achieved his goals and more. His business is now profitable. He has completed two Spartan Races. He’s in the best shape he’s been in since college and is even within 10 lbs of his college weight. He has experienced some unexpected benefits as well, such as improved sleep, more confidence, and increased energy throughout the day. Something that was completely unexpected for him is the positive impact it has had on his bank account. He mentioned he’s saving a lot of money because he now eats many more meals at home with his family than he previously did (and eating out is quite expensive).
If you’re ready to transform your life, download the Free Neuro-Nudge App (only available for iPhone at the moment) and sign up for the Neuro-Nudge Foundations course!
