I felt like I had taken the red pill from The Matrix. I saw most behavioral science research in a new way—it wasn’t pleasant, but it was the truth.

I couldn’t help but think that something was seriously wrong with those in the field. It was almost as if common sense wasn’t common to them.

We know from neuroimaging studies that sleep has a massive impact on a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex—which sits right above the eyes. It’s in charge of something called “executive function”, the conscious control of our actions and thoughts.

So sleep deprived individuals are going to have a diminished ability to inhibit unwanted thoughts and control their focus of attention.

About a year and a half ago, I was talking with a former member of President Obama’s Social and Behavioral Sciences Team.

This was a small group that was, more or less, a roaming behavioral economics consultancy during the final three years of O’s presidency. They worked on various projects, big and small, across various agencies.

Whenever I encounter someone who works in a different area of applied behavioral science (like public policy), I always make sure to ask them as many questions as possible—to see if I can learn anything new.

After the last article, I received a bunch of stories from readers. Some of you wrote me about your experiences “wiping the slate clean”, while others regaled me with tales of transformation after moving to a new city.

But I also received a couple of notes from people asking me whether there’s a less intense, more cost-effective way of shaking things up and building new habits.

In 2010, I woke up one Saturday morning and decided to stop eating sugar. I would only eat beans, veggies, and meat from then on.

A year later, I was still reliably eating the same way.

I didn’t need to “baby step” anything, change my environment, or build any fancy cues into my context.

A few months ago, I was asked to speak to a class at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The topic? Habit formation.

The instructor wanted me to give the class some valuable applied behavioral science research they could use to be more successful in their careers, so I decided to give them the lowdown (the real dirt) on habits.

Sure, you might be able to change your behavior for a period of time by putting yourself in an extreme environment (like the military), but once you remove yourself from that extreme context you’ll snap right back into your previously messy ways.

If you hire someone who actually knows the literature inside and out, and has gone through it with a critical mind, they’ll be a huge help. However, based on my experience, only 2-5% of the behavioral scientists out there fall into this camp. Most are walking around with laughably bad beliefs and completely inaccurate models of how people operate and why they do what they do.

Think of personality traits as behavioral thresholds. Someone who's very neurotic is going to have a lower threshold for worrying. They're going to see more things in the environment as threatening. Someone who's very extraverted is going to have a much lower threshold for talking to new people. They're going to see more opportunities for social engagement as they go through their day.

When was the last time you looked at the sky?

I mean it. When was the last time you REALLY looked?

For me, it was this morning. My apartment sits on a lovely hill here in San Francisco, and so I spend about 15 minutes staring out at the Bay and its cloud-ridden neighbor each AM.

It's amazing what you can learn from this simple practice.

Behavioral science is full of ideas that seem really useful but are actually quite useless.

A great example of this is the "operant conditioning loop". This is one of the first things that undergraduates are taught in psych 101. It's also the centerpiece of the blockbuster best-seller, "The Power of Habit".

The other day, I was sitting on my couch and looking for cool new articles.

After a few minutes of scrolling, one caught my eye.

Its title?