How to Set Up a Pleasure Bundle: Rules and Traps

When I first heard about pleasure bundling I thought "I'm already doing this." Listening to something while doing a chore was not foreign to me. Then I realized that this was only half of the method. The pleasure was there, the lock was not. If I can reach a podcast anywhere, at any moment, there is no reason left for it to pull me over to the dishes.

I explained what the method is, what the research found and how it connects to ADHD in the article on pleasure bundling. This article is the practical side: how to build the bundle and where it breaks.

First, a short reminder

The experiment in which pleasure bundling emerged had three groups. The group that could reach audiobooks only at the gym went to the gym 51 percent more at the start. In the group that took the same books onto their own device and received the suggestion to "listen only while exercising," the increase was 29 percent and stayed borderline statistically. The effect largely disappeared after a holiday break (Milkman et al., 2014).

These three findings determine almost all of the rules below:

1. The lock works better when it is outside you.
2. The pleasure has to be strong.
3. The pleasure wears out and breaks undo the bundle.

One more note: these experiments were done with the general population and with exercise. When I adapt the steps below to other tasks and to ADHD, I am adding my own inferences. I will state separately which parts come from the research and which from me.

Step 1: Choose the task

Not every task suits a bundle. The tasks I find worth trying have three things in common.

The reward is far away. Exercise, cleaning, paperwork, archiving email. You know it will feel good once it's done, but that feeling is not here right now.

It does not keep the mind too busy. Your hands and eyes are working, while your language and thinking channel stays empty. Ironing, walking, chopping vegetables, naming files.

It repeats. A task that comes up several times a week gives the bundle a chance to turn into a habit. A bundle can also be built for a task done once a year, but then the lock stays a one-time lock.

When choosing, ask yourself: "Am I putting this off because I dislike it, or because I am afraid of it?" A pleasure bundle is good for tedium. With a task you avoid out of anxiety, you first have to look at the anxiety.

Limit the number too. For the first try, a single task and a single pleasure. Setting up five bundles at once is the shortest way for all five to fall apart in the first week.

Step 2: Choose the pleasure

Two mistakes are common here: choosing a pleasure that is too weak or one without a clear end.

It has to be something you really want. In the experiment participants chose the books themselves, and gripping novels were preferred. Content that you feel "wouldn't hurt to listen to" is not strong enough to pull you over to the dishes. The test is simple: does knowing that you cannot reach this pleasure right now bother you a little? If it does, it is the right pleasure.

The attention channel must not collide with the task. A pleasure taken in through the ears with a task done by hand, like an audiobook with a walk or a series with ironing. If you add a verbal piece of content to a task that requires reading or writing, the two share the same resource. I explained in detail which sound interferes with which task in the article on music and focus.

It must have a clear end. A podcast episode, one chapter of a book, an album, an episode of a series. Short-video feeds or autoplaying recommendations should not enter the bundle. They have no end and they leave one end of the bundle open. I explained why they pull so strongly in the article on infinite scrolling.

It must be harmless. Sweets, alcohol, browsing a shopping site or games that make you spend money can look attractive as a pleasure. Each has its own risk, and the more boring the task, the more of them get consumed. The pleasure should not produce a problem of its own, independent of the task.

Step 3: Build the lock

This is the heart of the method. The pleasure should be reachable only during that task.

The research's clearest lesson is that the lock worked better when it was not left to a person's own willpower. The locker at the gym was a lock. The promise "I'll listen only while exercising" is an intention. The increase was larger and statistically clear in the locked group, and borderline in the group that settled for the promise (Milkman et al., 2014). In a larger trial, teaching people the method made only a small additional contribution compared to simply giving them the audiobook (Kirgios et al., 2020). Understanding alone is not enough. You need a setup.

There is no gym locker at home, but there are ways to move the lock outside. The following are my suggestions; do not read them as tested methods:

• A device lock. Load the pleasure onto an old phone, a music player or a separate pair of headphones, and keep that device next to the task. The drawer of the ironing table, the gym bag, the kitchen cupboard.
• A place lock. Reach the pleasure only in a certain place. The paperwork you do in a certain café comes together with that café's dessert.
• An app lock. Take the audiobook app off the home screen and only search for it when starting the task. This is not a full lock, but it puts a small obstacle in between. The glossary calls it friction design.
• A social lock. Watching a series only with one person, while both of you do housework. The other person becomes the keeper of the lock.

How solid the lock must be is determined by how strong the pleasure is. The more attractive the pleasure, the further outside the lock should be.

Step 4: Decide the end

In ADHD the end of a bundle can be harder than its beginning. The task finishes, the pleasure carries on, and an hour later you are still in the kitchen.

Tie the end of the bundle beforehand to one of two things:

• When the task ends, the pleasure ends. When the last plate is washed, the episode is shut off even if it is left unfinished. Its being left unfinished is a good thing, because the pull for the next time is ready.
• When the pleasure ends, the task ends. Cleaning for as long as one podcast episode. For tasks that never finish, I think this works better, because it puts an artificial finish line on the task.

Which one you choose depends on the nature of the task. What matters is that the end is decided before starting the task.

Step 5: Keep a log for two weeks

Do not measure whether the method works by feel. In a notebook or on your phone, write a single line every day: was the task done, how many minutes did it take, did the pleasure stay inside the bundle?

After two weeks you have the answers to three questions. Are you doing the task more often? Is the pleasure staying within its limit? Has the pull of the pleasure decreased?

Bundle card. Write a four-line card for each bundle and hang it where the task is done. Task: what will be done. Pleasure: what exists only in this task. Lock: where the pleasure is kept. End: where the bundle closes. The card keeps the rule in view without leaving it to your mood of the moment.

An example from start to finish

Let me show with a single example what it looks like when the steps come together. The task I picked is ironing, because it is a task very prone to piling up in the basket.

• Task: The week's ironing. The reward is far off, it is done by hand, the language channel is empty.
• Pleasure: The new season of a series you are eagerly waiting for. The ironing board is set up where the television or tablet can be seen, because the eyes may drift to the screen now and then but the hands stay on the task.
• Lock: That season is never opened at any other time. If you follow the series together with someone, make this agreement with them too, to make the rule sturdier.
• End: When the basket is empty, the episode is shut off even if it is left half way.
• Log: One word in the calendar: "ironing."

This bundle's weak point is clear too: it collapses when the season ends. So writing the next series on the list now is part of the bundle.

Traps

Bending the lock. "I'm tired today, let me just listen to one episode." Once the lock has been punctured, the knowledge that the pleasure is tied to the task weakens. There will be days when you want to consume the pleasure without the task. On those days, turn to a different pleasure instead of breaking the bundle.

The pleasure wearing out. The disappearance of the effect after the holiday break shows that the pleasure loses its appeal over time (Milkman et al., 2014). When a stimulus becomes familiar and goes unnoticed, the glossary calls it habituation. Keep the pleasures as a list and swap in the next one when one finishes. A bundle tied to a single series collapses when the series ends.

Not coming back after a break. A holiday, an illness, a busy week. The bundle breaks, and in ADHD the thought "it broke, so it doesn't work" comes very fast. A finding from habit research is comforting here: the time for daily behaviors to become automatic ranged from 18 to 254 days between people, and occasionally missing a day did not noticeably disrupt the process (Lally et al., 2010). That study did not measure pleasure bundling, but it shows that a break does not reset everything. After the break it is enough to reread the card and keep the first day small. I explained the general picture of habits in ADHD in the article on building habits.

Turning the pleasure into a punishment. Being angry at yourself with "you didn't do the task, so no series" turns the bundle into a tool for judgment. Guilt also raises the threshold for starting. The bundle's only rule is this: the pleasure is inside the task. On a day the task is not done, the pleasure stays on hold, that is all.

The pleasure swallowing the task. If attention shifts completely to the pleasure, and the task is done halfway or carelessly, the pleasure is too strong or the task too hard. Lighten the pleasure, go down from a novel to a podcast. Or swap the task for a more automatic one.

Building a bundle for every task. Bundling all the boring tasks with pleasure means no moment of the day is left quiet. Never leaving stimulation can produce a different kind of tiredness. Save the bundle for the few tasks you put off the most.

A few adjustments for ADHD

This section is entirely my own inference.

A review examining studies with children with ADHD reports that reward and contingency arrangements improved performance, that this could be somewhat more pronounced in ADHD, and that intensive reinforcement seemed particularly effective (Luman et al., 2005). There is no study showing this directly in adults, but it makes me think of two things.

First, it matters that the pleasure starts immediately. A podcast that opens five minutes after you begin the task does not save the moment of starting. Putting in the headphones and turning on the pleasure should be the first movement of the task.

Second, if the pleasure is not strong enough, it may not work at all in ADHD. A light pleasure that I call "would be nice to have" hardly pulls me over to the task. The choice has to be generous. Within the safety limits above, of course.

Where to start

This evening, pick a single task and a single pleasure. Write the four-line card. Take the pleasure to the task and leave it there.

If you want to see which pleasure goes well with which task, you can find the pairings I collected for housework, study, exercise and paperwork in the article on pleasure bundling examples.