Don’t Buy the Bread: How Small Nudges Can Lead to Big Wins

My husband gave me a bread maker as a gift. I love it. In our house, I’m the baker.

There’s something deeply satisfying about baking bread, the smell, the warmth, the sense of accomplishment.  I love making it by hand, but the bread maker makes it easier and I still get the reward: fresh-baked bread!

And yet, I don’t use the bread maker as much as I feel I should. I’m not in the rhythm of making bread every week. I want to be. I say I will be. But I’m not.

Why?

Because right now I wait until I want to make bread and every time I want to make bread, I’ve already bought some. And I don’t want to waste it. Or every time I am in the store I am not in the mood for making bread, so I default to convenience. I buy the bread. I skip the process that would lead to improvement (aka, better bread).

So yesterday, we were in the store and I said, “I’m going to grab some lunch meat for the weekend.” Which meant I needed bread. I reached for the loaf, then paused.

“Or maybe I could make bread.”

It was 7:30pm. I didn’t want to make bread. I wasn’t sure I’d want to in the morning either. Maybe I would, but then again maybe not.  But then I remembered how good that fresh-baked bread tastes. How it makes the house smell so warm and comforting.

So I made a decision:

I’m not going to buy bread.

That would nudge me to make it.

And it worked.

🍞 My Bread Maker Principle

Sometimes the thing we want feels hard, eating better, working out, becoming a better leader, or just making fresh bread for a weekend sandwich. However, something that could help us take a step in the direction often times is not that hard.   

Take my bread for instance.  The bread I make is simple white bread. It takes about 15 minutes to gather ingredients and get it into the machine. Then the bread maker does the rest. Three hours later: warm, delicious bread.

But the hardest part?

Starting.

Getting over the inertia.

The “what if I spill flour everywhere?”

The “do I really want to clean up?”

The “I need to start three hours ahead if I want it for lunch.”

🧠 Shockingly, This Isn’t Just About Bread

This is about the things we say we want; growth, change, progress but don’t always make space for.

We want to write the book, launch the business, train for the new role, build the habit. But we keep buying the bread. We keep choosing the shortcut. We keep waiting for motivation to strike.

Motivation is unreliable. What if, instead, we gave ourselves a little nudge toward success Nudges are small, quite but powerful.

🔁 Nudges That Move Us Forward

That moment in the store I created a nudge. A small decision that removed the shortcut and gently pushed me toward the work.

I didn’t buy the bread.

I made space for the process.

I committed to the outcome before I felt ready.

Did this mean that I ran the risk of not having bread for the weekend?  Yep.  Or having to make another trip to the store? Yep.  But knowing myself and how much I love bread and hate trips to the grocery store.  This was the simple nudge I needed.

And that’s the thing about nudges, they’re not loud or dramatic. They’re subtle shifts that move us closer to what we say we want. They help us bypass the friction, the hesitation, the “I’ll do it later” loop.

Over time, we can learn to recognize these nudges and even build them into our routines. Small things that help us reduce friction and create opportunities for success.  Because growth doesn’t always come from big leaps, it often starts with small, intentional choices.

Here are a few other nudges I’ve learned to use (and coach others to use):

🕒 Don’t Schedule Over It

Block time for the thing you keep avoiding writing, networking, working out. Now, skipping it becomes a conscious choice.

👀 Leave the Tools Out

Environmental cues are powerful. We see it we are reminded of what we want to be doing.  Bread maker on the counter = bread gets made. Journal on the desk = writing happens.

📣 Tell Someone You’re Doing It

Social nudges, like telling a friend or posting your goal can increase follow-through. Not only does it make it real to us but it also brings the having to answer when the friend asks about the project in to play.

🚫 Remove the Shortcut

Removing the easy option (like store-bought bread) forces engagement with the process. This is a classic example of choice architecture.  Designing environments that steer behavior without limiting freedom.

🧩 Make It Easy to Start

Behavioral psychology shows that reducing friction increases action. Prep the ingredients. Lay out your clothes. Open the document. Make the first step feel effortless.

🎧 Pair It With Something You Enjoy

Enjoyment increases habit stickiness. Music, candles, a favorite drink.  Make the process feel good.

🔗 Use a Trigger Habit

Linking a new behavior to an existing one, like journaling after coffee, creates a reliable cue. This technique is known as habit stacking, and it’s proven to help embed new routines.

🎯 Create a Micro-Goal

Small wins build momentum. Neuroscience shows that tiny decisions repeated over time shape neural pathways, making behaviors more automatic and less reliant on willpower.  The pathways we want become the defaults.

🥖 So, What’s Your Bread?

What’s the thing you want to do more of but keep putting off?

What shortcut could you remove to nudge yourself toward it?

Sometimes the hardest part is just getting the flour out.

But once you do, the house smells amazing.

And you remember why it was worth it.

That’s the power of a nudge.