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Change Agent

Self-Control

Change Agent

The New York Times

Society & Culture, How To, Self-improvement, Education, Personal Journals

4.61.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2018

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ashley shops online. A lot. Sends stuff to places all over the city. Hides her packages when they arrive. She wants to go a month without buying anything online. So, we turn to the world's best breath holders for answers.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Okay, so just lay out the problem for me.

0:03.9

So last week, I got an email that this website was having a big sale.

0:12.0

And I go to the website, there's like this black leather backpack.

0:18.0

And I cannot think of one scenario where I would need a black leather backpack. In fact,

0:25.7

that sounds like a horrible sweaty, very sweaty idea. But I bought it and instead of using it,

0:34.1

it's just sitting on a box on my dresser for weeks.

0:37.9

And guess how much it was, Charles?

0:40.2

I don't even...

0:41.6

The bag was $300.

0:43.7

How frequently does that happen?

0:46.3

How often do I get the temptation of a deal?

0:50.2

Every day.

0:51.4

And how often do you actually go and buy something?

0:54.8

This week, I've done it twice. And how often do you actually go and buy something? This week, I've done it twice.

0:58.1

And today's just Wednesday.

0:59.8

Like, there's only been two and a quarter days so far this week.

1:05.0

Honestly, Charles, I've bought things three times this week.

1:14.4

For me, I've bought things three times this week. From the New York Times, I'm Charles Deug, and this is Change Agent.

1:26.2

A few years ago, I wrote this book named The Power of Habit, and it's about how habits work and how people can change them.

1:33.9

And pretty soon after it came out, I started hearing from all of these people who would contact me and say,

1:38.1

hey, I've got this problem in my life, and I was wondering if you could help me solve it.

1:42.7

And that was kind of unexpected because I'm not a

...

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