Every day, you make important choices–about whether to feast on fries or take a brisk walk,

whether to spend or save your paycheck,

whether to buy the sustainable option or the disposable plastic one.

Life is made up of countless decisions.

The idea of nudging people in the right direction,

instead of relying on their internal motivation, has gained traction over the past decade.

In general, nudging involves gently coaxing someone into a decision or behavior.

The perfect nudge is one that results in the desired decision or behavior without the person recognizing any external influence.

Think of employees being automatically enrolled in retirement savings programs.

Workers who must opt-out, instead of needing to opt-in, participate more in retirement savings.

Or picture those little cards in hotel bathrooms encouraging people to reuse their towels by stating that most hotel guests do,

instead of appealing to the guests' social responsibility.

In these and countless similar situations, people feel in control but were nudged to prefer one option over the other.

So how does all this nudging work within the mind?

As someone who studies consumer decision-making,

I can tell you: It's complicated.

Decisions are at the center of all of our daily managerial and leadership activities.

Some decisions are fairly easy; there's a policy in place that dictates the correct option given a set of circumstances.

Others, including choices surrounding direction, problem-solving, and investment, are less programmed or structured and generally involve higher stakes.

the purpose of this book is to make good decisions and avoid regret later