Blog

I often talk about the need to minimise effort if we want behaviour to happen. The easier something is to do, the smaller the payoff for bothering needs to be.

But.

Sometimes we need to do hard things. We want to do hard things.

There’s the thrill of riding a roller coaster, the relief of passing exams and the satisfaction of climbing a mountain. The adrenaline of presenting your ideas to a crowded room.

In these cases, making the hard thing easy would negate its worth. 

No...

Are you providing too much detail or not enough?

People say they want information, right? But what's the right level of information to share?

Behavioural expert Bri Williams shares how to approach the issue of information, including why people think they need it and why they actually do.

More about Just Do This: www.briwilliams.com/about-just-do-this

The number of people you are influencing (one Vs. many), and how familiar they are can radically alter how you approach the task.

When it comes to influencing groups, the biggest upside is scale — the sheer weight of numbers. However, you will have to manage dynamics within the group and the tendency for freeloading, which is when people feel they can hide behind the efforts of others.

Individuals have the advantage of heightened engagement — it’s harder for...

I hate selling.

Now, that's a problem if you are someone like me who runs their own business, or you're in a role that requires you to bring in the dollars.

Or maybe you are trying to 'sell' your credentials in a job interview or sell the benefits of a new project?

Bottomline, how to sell if you don't like selling?

In this video I explain how to think differently about selling, and the ONLY three reasons people don't buy.

This is a sample of content from my Just Do This...

My number one tip, when people ask about habit change, is your physical environment. Set it up to make it easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing.

But there’s a problem with relying on your environment. What if it changes?

The perils of contextual cues

I was travelling recently but completely forgot to take my vitamins in the morning. Why? The context had changed.

The behaviour of taking my vitamins is tied to my breakfast routine at home, and it turns...

How to overcome the biggest objection of all?

I’m not talking about price!

I’m talking about incumbency.

The ‘we’re fine with what we’ve got’ or what we’re doing as your customer swats you away, like an annoying little fly.

In my latest video I explain what to say to get your customer's attention and listen to what you have to say.

This is a sample of content from my Just Do This membership program. Find out how you can join here.

Convincing your boss to do something differently is one of the biggest frustrations people have. 

It’s not just your boss, of course. It could be any colleague whose support you need. 

So let’s walk through an example that I’ve shared with many of my clients.

How to convince your boss

Start with unifying language, tethering their objectives to yours.

“As you know, our task/objective is to get people to…”  

We’re using...

Do you have an 'um-ing' habit?

Perhaps you equivocate a lot, like saying something 'might' work rather than it 'will' work?

If you do, is this turning your customers and colleagues off?

In sample video from my online membership program, Just Do This, I share how these hedges and utterances impact how people perceive you.

And guess what? The news isn't all bad!

Hear me explain:

- The two types of hedges, and how to combine them to sound more persuasive; and

- How um-ing can actually help,...

Proportionality is core to how we navigate the world.

It’s how we gauge the extent of something.

Is it a big slice or small? Generous or miserly? Almost complete or barely started? Half full or half empty?

We might be ‘middle aged’, ‘middle class’, or just ‘middling’ along.

To know where things stand, we rely on proportionality signals.

So what do you think might be my concern with the new Australian fire danger ratings?

In a positive move, the...

I was nervous, of course. 

Approaching the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, one of the world's most successful advertising agencies, for a blurb for my new book was a little daunting.

But Rory Sutherland is an exceedingly generous and supportive person who told me he'd be delighted.

'Bri Williams is the Linnaeus of human behaviour', he wrote. 'The best taxonomy of the different approaches to understanding human behaviour I have ever seen'.

Wow! 

But...please excuse my...