Routes to nudging

Tap yourself

Nudging, as far as this website is concerned, is focused on what you want from life, and how you might go about getting it.

The obvious text to mention about routes to nudging is:

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.

by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300122237: Number of pages: 304

The notion of how to ‘nudge’ was popularised by this 2008 book.

But there are many different routes to nudging

…. as my top illustration shows.

The primary concern with this book – written from the perspective of economists – is its pre-occupation with nudging some-one else. The book highlights how we make decisions about our lives and it concludes that – too often – we choose poorly. We need to be nudged by others to get it right!!

Apart from the evident paternalism, this assumption minimises the value of a small defeat when we nudge ourselves.

This web site seeks to redress this by attending to what you might do to nudge yourself or, maybe, negotiate a nudge with another person. To me, the ways in which we get things wrong can be an important step towards getting it right.

Throughout this website, I want to minimise the times I tell you what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. I want you to have the opportunity to find that out for yourself. I seek to do this by offering a number of choices, although there are exceptions to that rule. Can you track them down?

My point is that the road to success is not a straight-as-a-die Motorway, but rather a scenic route with few clear indications of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ steps en route.

There is more about using parts of the scenic route to devise your own way of nudging.

Mistakes do not always make us poorer; the scenic route, with both small defeats and small victories littering the road, may teach us important lessons.

There is a web site addressing the larger political issues relating to nudging:

http://nudges.org/

This web site highlights how ‘nudging’ arose from a wish to change others – it’s what politicians do – and it may well be an important motivator for people to go into politics! I want my own web site to provide an antidote to the manipulations emanating from the hidden persuaders.

Happy Hunting, once again! There are some leads into your own odyssey, below.

Let me know if I succeed or fail on the way, please!  Here is a Comment section you can use to tell me directly what you make of nudging yourself along the scenic route.

Some further leads on the art of nudging yourself

Devising a nudge

Actions that can make up a nudge

The scenic route

Limits to action

Space Time Body and Spirit

An Index of all pages on Your Nudge