Resources
The studies, and the three places to use them.
These findings support pieces of the thinking. They do not test the Mental Wealth System, and they are not a treatment. What follows is our framework, written for ordinary days.
If-then, not just “I should.”
94 tests. More than 8,000 people. Writing when and where you’ll do it made a medium-to-large difference in actually doing it. That supports one habit, not this whole system.
Habit and identity travel together.
Across 13,340 people, habit and identity in health behaviours were strongly linked. The correlation was large, r = 0.55. The study did not test this system.
Put the easy choice in front, and people take it.
Across 447 tests, a small change in how a choice is set up moved what people did, a modest amount. About 15 in 100 of those setups did the opposite. A nudge is not a plan.
It is not 21 days.
In that study, the middle of the pack felt a new health habit had become automatic at 66 days. Some people at 18. Some at 254. It was not a test of 21 days, and not a test of this planner.
Mental Wealth Wallet
- Question
- Do I actually have enough left?
- What’s in there
- Today’s accounts, a real fortnight of them, and the three that stay: working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control. The rest can be hidden or changed.
- Use it to
- See what the day cost, what handed something back, and whether tonight can hold a goal or just needs sleep.
Work-Life Workbook
- Question
- Who am I trying to stay, inside this job?
- What’s in there
- The identity, then the habit that belongs to that person, then a goal small enough for the day you have.
- Use it to
- Stop setting goals for a stranger. Let the habit belong to you.
Shift-Friendly Planner
- Question
- How much of today is actually mine?
- What’s in there
- A digital day — morning before work, evening after, or a day off — and a printable of the same book. Stamps, a week, a year, a budget.
- Use it to
- Look at the window before you promise it away. Then check the wallet.
An educational and practical resource-management system. Not a medical treatment or a diagnostic tool.