Hi All!
Happy Friday! As always, here’s your weekly dose of “On-Track” advice, a list of tips & tricks to keep you on top of your goals.
1. Self-control is an important skill that improves with repetition.
Self-control, synonymous with the term willpower, is your ability to say no when your mind says yes. It’s all about staying the course when you are faced with temptation.
What is surprising to many is that self-control can be improved with repetitive use. For example, when you don’t feel like taking out the garbage but you do it anyway, your ability to do what is challenging improves. You don’t just get more disciplined at taking out the garbage, but your self-control abilities spill into different areas of life, such as your health, finances, and relationships.
2. First impressions are misleading. What you think about a person, object, or situation on your first encounter is often not true.
Research shows that we start to form an opinion of a person after seeing their face for less than one-tenth of a second.1 In this time we decide whether that person is attractive, trustworthy, and competent. This decision is made too fast to be accurate; we don’t know anything about their life background or personality.
The initial feeling we have about something or someone is often formed on the basis of little evidence. This is not just true for meeting new people, but also for seeing a place or item for the first time. Always questions first impressions as they may not be accurate reflections.
Your Weekly Digest: Grocery Store Design
Have you ever walked into a grocery store to buy a few things but walked out with more than you intended? In this week’s article, “How Grocery Store Layouts Increase Your Spending” I reveal how the design of a supermarket can make you buy more stuff. Though grocery stores don’t seem to trick people into buying, the truth is that every square foot is designed to increase customer spending.
The front of the store typically displays items that appear fresh: You will find fruit under good lighting, vegetables covered in water mist, and smell a combination of flowers and baked goods. As you continue to browse the store, it takes tremendous self-control to stick to your shopping list because you will come across many tempting deals, discounts, and offers.
This drives impulse sales, which is exactly how grocery store want it. And if you consider that the average grocery store carries approximately 44,000 items, you’ll see just why you walk out with more items than you intended.
Until next week,
Mike van der Poel
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