This week’s must-reads: Changing minds is tricky. Here’s how to make it happen.

In my work as a behavioral designer, I come across important stories on how psychology influences our behavior. Every week, I share my round-up of the most important stories at the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. I hope you enjoy them!

This Is The Most Important Skill Parents Should Teach Their Kids (Nir and Far) Whether you’re a parent or not, we all want kids to live up to their potential. In a world, filled with so much distraction, how do we teach kids to focus long enough and apply themselves?

To Change a Habit, Get Extreme. Progressively. (Behavioral Scientist)
Whether it’s changing our penchant for eating unhealthy food or reining in our predilection for distraction, starting a new routine is very different from breaking an existing habit.

The Danger of Thinking We’re All ‘Addicted’ to Tech (Wired)
Telling ourselves that devices and platforms “hijack” our brains plays right into Big Tech’s hands.

Why Slack Employees Don’t Get Distracted by Slack (Inc)
The Slack platform is part of an always-on culture. Slack employees themselves aren’t distracted by their own creation.

Instead of Complaining Your Phone is Addictive, Become ‘Indistractable’ (Barnaby Lashbrooke) Our phones are not the problem; it’s our desire to escape what we don’t enjoy in real life that is the problem. Learning to become indistractable is the skill of the century.

Facts Don’t Change People’s Minds. Here’s What Does. (Ozan Varol) The mind doesn’t follow facts. Doubt isn’t always resolved in the face of facts for even the most enlightened among us, however credible and convincing those facts might be.

Happy reading!

- Nir