The Me Improve Blog
Psychology, behavior science, and self-awareness research, explained clearly, with sources. No vague advice, just what the evidence actually shows.
A 1996 depression-treatment study found that just scheduling activity worked as well as full therapy. What behavioral activation says about waiting to "feel like it."
The psychology behind why writing down how you feel changes how you feel: affect labeling, self-monitoring, and what the research actually shows.
The idea got bigger than the evidence. Here's what the original studies found, what a large 2019 replication found, and where the effect is real versus overstated.
A classic 1973 study on kids and drawing found that adding a reward to something people already enjoyed made them do it less. What this means for habit trackers and streaks.
A famous grocery store jam study found more options led to fewer purchases. The same choice-overload effect explains why a long goal list quietly sabotages you.
A 1927 observation about waiters and unpaid orders explains why an open goal nags at you, and why simply writing a plan for it can quiet your mind almost as well as finishing it.
Where the "21 days to build a habit" claim came from, what a real University College London study found instead, and what it means for how you should track a new habit.
A large 2018 study published in The Lancet Psychiatry found a specific amount of exercise linked to the best mental health outcomes, and more wasn't always better.
A 2014 study on gym visits and Google searches found that "temporal landmarks" genuinely boost motivation. Here's how to use that instead of waiting for willpower.
Decades of research from Locke and Latham's goal-setting theory show specific, measurable goals consistently outperform vague ones. Here's the actual evidence.
Research suggests nearly half of daily behavior is habitual, triggered by context rather than conscious decisions. Why changing your surroundings works better than trying harder.
What sleep researchers actually recommend, why "catching up" on weekends doesn't fully work, and why consistency may matter as much as total hours.
Kahneman and Tversky named it, and a classic study on students' thesis deadlines proved it. Why your own time estimates are the least reliable ones you'll ever get.
Implementation intentions are one of the most replicated findings in behavior science. Here's what a meta-analysis of 94 studies found, and how to write one.
Named after flat-pack furniture, the IKEA effect shows people value things more when they build them. The same logic explains why self-collected data hits differently.
The generation effect, Pennebaker's expressive writing research, and why the questions you ask yourself matter more than how often you reflect.