behavior-hack
The Zeigarnik Effect
An unfinished task keeps tugging at your attention until you finish it. Or until you write down exactly how, when and where you will. The second one turned out to work just as well.
behavior-hack
behavior-hack
The Benjamin Franklin Effect
People tend to like you more after doing you a favor, not less. One detail matters: the effect showed up only when the person was asked directly.
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Let Them Meet the Person They Helped
Callers who spent five minutes with one scholarship student were raising 171 percent more money a month later. The group who only read his letter didn't move at all.
behavior-hack
The 19-Word Note
One sentence attached to critical feedback lifted revision rates from 17 to 71 percent among the students who trusted the institution least. It runs 19 words.
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The One-Miss Rule
Sixty-six days to automatic, not 21. And missing a single day costs almost nothing. What kills a new habit is the relaunch that follows the first miss.
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The Five-Minute Favor
The five-minute favor is the most underrated trust tool on your team: small enough to do daily, generous enough that people remember. Here's why giving beats receiving.
behavior-hack
The Two-Question Pulse
The annual engagement survey measures memory, not experience. Two questions asked weekly capture what a 60-question form asked once never will. Here's the pair to use.
behavior-hack
The 1:1 Agenda Flip
Most managers run the 1:1. That's the problem. Hand the agenda to your report and the conversation shifts from status update to the things that actually matter.
behavior-hack
The 15-Minute Debrief
Teams that debrief outperform those that don't by about 25%. You don't need a postmortem template or a blameless culture deck. You need 15 minutes and three questions.
behavior-hack
Craft the Job You Have
People wait for a better role to be handed to them. The research says reshaping the job they already have moves engagement more than a new title does. It starts with one question in your next 1:1.
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The Done-and-Seen Log
Generic recognition doesn't scale. Specific recognition doesn't happen often enough. One five-minute Friday practice solves both at once.
behavior-hack
The Zoom-Out Ritual
Teams accumulate meetings, rituals, and processes that stopped making sense six months ago. Nobody removes them because nobody is asked to. One 45-minute meeting a month, with a single question, fixes that.