4 Psychology Hacks Google Used on Employees to Change Bad Habits
By: Willda Atienza
Tags: Life Hacking, Personal Development, Self Improvement, Habits, Psychology

4 Psychology Hacks Google Used on Employees to Change Bad Habits

And how you can apply these

Photo by Abhinav Goswami on Pexels

We all have bad habits that interfere with our goals.

Maybe we feel like we just can’t stop eating junk food but want a ‘summer bod’. Perhaps we procrastinate instead of putting in the work to build up our side hustle. When we have a goal in mind, taking new action, in the beginning, can feel like a breeze.

But it’s sustaining a change in behavior long enough for it to become a good habit, where most of us fall off.

When Google set out to get employees to live healthier lives it was confronted with the challenge of changing their bad eating habits.

7 weeks later, the findings in the New York office alone were impressive. Employees consumed 3.1 million fewer calories. In 2018, employees were found to drink nearly 5 times more bottled water over sugary drinks. And today 2,300 breakfast salads are served daily.

You may not necessarily have the goal of living a healthier lifestyle. But the principles from human behavior used by Google, are lessons we can all use in making and sustaining good habits that support our goals.

Hack 1: Create extra steps for a bad decision & make the right decision easy

One action Google did was an experiment with the setup of coffee stations.

At station A, snack bars were conveniently put next to the coffee stations. At station B, the snack bars were placed across the room, just 4 or 5 extra steps away.

In the end, it was found that 20% of employees grabbed a snack from station A. At station B, this dropped to 12% of employees grabbing a snack.

Behavioral lesson:

Humans are wired to go for the easier choice or the path of least resistance. It’s a survival instinct.

In the case above, it was too inconvenient for those in station B to walk a few extra feet, and too easy for those at station A to grab a snack next to them.

How to apply this yourself:

If you would like to create a good habit of say, actually finishing books from your forever growing pile of unread books, try placing one of them beside your bedside table. This will create easy access and convenience to read every day.

If you want to stop the habit of being on your device before sleeping because this messes up your sleeping schedule, place all devices in another room an hour before sleeping. For extra effectiveness, place the devices annoyingly in a closet for example, or somewhere inconveniently high or low to reach.

Even if you’re itching to check your devices, you probably won’t want to go through the effort of getting out of bed, walking into another room, reaching up, or getting on your knees just to get these items.

Hack 2: Make the right choice more attractive

When Google tried to get employees to drink more water they began to place transparent “spa water” style canisters everywhere. They also added colorful fruit like strawberries and slices of lemon.

Behavioral lesson:

When we’re attracted to something, we’re likely to gravitate towards it. We’re even more inclined if attention-grabbing details like bright colors catch our attention.

In the case of Google employees, the visual of flavored water was far more attractive than plain water.

How to apply this to yourself:

Will owning a cute outfit or new pair of shoes motivate you to go to the gym to ‘show 'em off’? Tap into that vanity if it means you’ll show up at the gym to workout.

Be honest, if your home office looks better, would it motivate you to get work done in such an awesome looking place? Then decorate that home office!

Consider your other senses too, like your sense of smell. If you know that you need to get in bed by a certain time, it can be attractive to see the scented candle on your bedside table. The thought of smelling your favorite fragrance may attract you towards your bed when the needed time to rest comes.

Hack 3: Hide temptation and have good decisions clearly visible

To prevent unnecessary snacking, junk foods like chocolate and chips weren’t banned from the workplace but were hidden. Employees knew they still existed, but they were at the back of kitchens or in opaque containers.

Behavioral lesson:

Out of sight, out of mind.

“Visibility is extremely important. Whatever you see first is what you’re likely to start thinking about.” — David Just, Ph.D., an associate professor of behavioral economics at Cornell University.

How to apply this to yourself:

If you find yourself slowly getting addicted to playing your Nintendo Switch every evening, try hiding it away so you’re not tempted to play it every time you see it.

If you have the goal of drinking more water, try having a water bottle next to you as a constant visual reminder to drink up. If you need to study for an important test, have your study materials readily within reach.

Hack 4: Make the right choice more enjoyable

It’s not only kids who struggle to eat their vegetables. Google created not only an abundance of healthy plant-based meals to choose from but made sure these options were tasty too.

Behavioral lesson:

Google realized:

What motivates people to engage and stick with virtuous patterns of behavior has less to do with all the logical reasons they should and more to do with how much the person enjoys doing that virtuous thing — whether that’s going to the gym or eating their vegetables. — Jane Black, How Google Got Its Employees to Eat Their Vegetables

How to apply this to yourself:

The next time you have something that you need to do, instead of forcing yourself to do it and ‘hating it throughout’, brainstorm and ask yourself, “How can I make this process more enjoyable?”

If you need to get cardio done but hate running with a passion, maybe you should try a fun dance class instead to burn those calories. If cleaning out your apartment regularly is a chore, try playing your favorite music playing in the background.

When I lead tours, a fellow guide of mine used to make a game out of seeing how many names she could memorize as a personal challenge.