Understand What Drives You
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Hi, I’m Nir.
If you’ve ever wondered why certain products are so hard to put down, why distraction feels so difficult to control, or why changing your own behavior can feel nearly impossible…
You’re asking the right questions.
Most of us like to believe we are in control of our choices.
We decide what to focus on and how to spend our time.
We decide what to believe, what to buy, what to build, and what kind of life we want to live.
But every day, invisible forces are shaping those decisions.
Your habits shape you.
Your environment shapes you.
Your beliefs shape you.
Technology shapes you.
The products you use, the people around you, the stories you tell yourself, and the systems you live inside all influence what you do next.
This publication is about understanding those forces so you can use them intentionally.
Not to blame technology or chase productivity for productivity’s sake.
Not to optimize every corner of your life until there’s no room left to be human.
But to help you think more clearly, act more intentionally, and design a better life.
This is for you if…
You’re tired of feeling pulled in a dozen directions.
You want to understand why distraction keeps winning, even when you know what matters.
You’re interested in the psychology behind habits, motivation, attention, decision-making, and belief.
You build products, teams, companies, or communities and want to understand how behavior really works.
You’re a writer, entrepreneur, parent, leader, creator, or curious person trying to make better choices in a world designed to influence them.
You don’t want shallow tips. You want frameworks that help you see differently.
You want to know why people do what they do — including yourself.
That is what I write about here.
What you’ll find here
This is not a typical newsletter.
You won’t just get quick tips or recycled tactics.
Instead, you’ll learn how to see the hidden psychology behind habits, attention, motivation, and decision-making.
You’ll learn how products, environments, and beliefs influence behavior.
You’ll learn how to build systems — for yourself, your work, your family, your team, or your customers — that actually work.
And you’ll learn how to regain control over your time, focus, and choices in an increasingly distracting world.
My goal is simple:
To help you better understand what drives human behavior, so you can change what needs changing and design what comes next.
Free subscribers receive
As a free subscriber, you’ll receive new essays exploring behavior, attention, habits, belief, productivity, decision-making, and human potential.
You’ll get practical insights you can apply immediately, along with occasional exercises to help you think and act differently.
If you’re curious about how behavior works and want to better understand yourself, your work, and the world around you, the free subscription is a great place to begin.
Paid subscribers receive
Paid subscribers get a deeper, more applied experience.
You’ll receive expanded frameworks, exercises, prompts, and tools designed to help you implement what you’re learning — not just read about it.
You’ll also get access to live conversations and Q&A sessions, along with a closer look at how I think, write, research, and work through the ideas behind my books and essays.
If the free publication helps you understand the ideas, the paid subscription helps you put them into practice.
Why this matters now
We live in a world where more and more of our attention is being engineered.
Products are designed to keep us engaged. Algorithms shape what we see. Social platforms influence what we believe. Workplaces reward urgency over focus. And many of the beliefs that limit us feel so familiar we mistake them for truth.
You can remain unaware of these forces.
Or you can learn how they work.
When you understand the psychology behind behavior, you begin to see your life differently. You can notice the triggers that pull you off course. You can change the systems that keep producing the same results. You can question the beliefs that quietly define what feels possible.
That is where real agency begins.
About me
I’ve spent my career studying the intersection of business, behavior, and the brain.
My work has been used by thousands of companies around the world to design products that shape behavior for good, and I am a globally recognized authority on behavior change and human potential.
I’ve taught behavioral design at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, and my writing has been featured in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Time, and Psychology Today.
I’m the bestselling author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, which have sold over one million copies in more than 30 languages.
My latest book, Beyond Belief: The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results, explores the science behind how we form, hold, and change our beliefs to live longer, stronger, and better lives.
But this publication is not just about my books.
It is where I continue to explore the questions that have shaped my work for years:
Why do we do what we do?
Why do we get stuck?
How do beliefs change?
How do products influence behavior?
How can we build better habits without becoming rigid or joyless?
How can we reclaim our attention without withdrawing from the modern world?
If those are questions you care about too, you’re in the right place.
Let’s explore them together.