All protocols

Leave the phone behind or in the car during hikes to create untethered reset time and be present with the person you're with.

Use running as a way to reach a wordless, reset-like state.

Use swimming as a way to reach a wordless, reset-like state.

As a general rule, do important habits earlier because fewer interruptions accumulate earlier in the day; identify which hours are most under your control and stack habits there.

Use a workout as a linchpin habit that improves the rest of the day; for James Clear, usually in the morning around 10–11 a.m.

For a couple hours in the morning, keep the phone in another room, typically from about 9 a.m. to noon or until after a workout.

Put the app that supports the habit you want on the home screen so it is the first visual cue when you open your phone, and move distracting apps off the home screen to reduce their salience.

Delete email from the phone; only download it temporarily if truly needed, then delete it again.

Exercise is framed as taking good care of yourself and helping you be around longer for others and yourself.

Use a yoga studio as a supportive environment for practicing yoga, especially if your home environment is not conducive to it.

Skip some lower-value sessions if needed to get a workout in during conferences.

Get up around 5 or 6 a.m. to swim; described as a diligent parental habit.

Read to children before they can talk; extensive early reading was linked to very early vocabulary.

Use family history as a practical risk screen for alcohol problems; specifically ask whether a parent was alcoholic or whether problem drinking runs in the family.

Strong caution against starting substances during adolescence or earlier because the brain is highly plastic then and addiction risk is much higher.

Recommended over ketamine by the guest for treatment-resistant depression; described as accelerated rTMS over five consecutive days, with people coming in five days in a row for 10 minutes on and 50 minutes off all day long using a theta-burst setting. rTMS was also discussed as an approved, noninvasive option for depression and promising for addiction.

General recommendation across nicotine, cannabis, and opioids: ride out the withdrawal period if possible rather than repeatedly using the substance to treat withdrawal symptoms; withdrawal can mimic the problem people think they are treating. Treatments can also be used to make withdrawal easier.

General recommendation that withdrawal from different drugs can be made easier with treatment support.

Encourages speaking up early about a possible addiction problem because early-stage recovery odds are much higher.

Do a behavioral analysis of where you use, how much you use, what you use, and what cues trigger use. Also identify places or days where you naturally abstain, such as your mother's house or a holy day, and use those contexts and techniques as clues for recovery strategies; for example, visit your mom more often if you never use there, or apply the techniques from naturally sober days on other days.

If trying to quit drinking, remove alcohol from your home or give it away so access is behaviorally harder; make drinking require extra effort, such as having to go to a liquor store.

Practice practical skills for handling social interactions without drinking, figure out what to do for fun without the substance, and learn how to explain your recovery boundaries to friends who still drink.

Recovery strategy from AA: focus only on not drinking today rather than trying to quit forever all at once; pair daily abstinence with going to a meeting today for immediate reinforcement.

Recommended for homeless people with addiction; combines housing with a recovery culture where residents contribute to rent and abstain from substances and violence.

Software that suppresses notifications unless you intentionally enter a code to reveal them, reducing compulsive checking.

Suggested as a sensible social norm to reduce compulsive social media use, including not using social media at the dinner table or in restaurants.

Referenced as an established social norm that should remain in place.

Described in successful recovery examples of young men who needed to stop video games or YouTube for a substantial period to recapture attention and agency.

General principle illustrated by replacing alcohol and cannabis with gym training; one example given was going to the gym instead of going to meetings.

Advice given to his sons because counterfeit pills may contain fentanyl; if you did not personally acquire it, you cannot know what it is.