Habits and Hustle - Episode 558: Why That "10% OFF" Sale Feels So Irresistible & How To Use The Same Trick On Yourself

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

There's a cognitive bias that runs more of your decisions than you do. Marketers figured it out a long time ago. The reason it keeps working on you is that nobody's taught you how to use it back. Peo...ple have been saying it's a willpower problem for years now. And while willpower is part of it, the real reason you keep falling into the same patterns has less to do with discipline and more to do with how your brain is wired. In this episode of Habits and Hustle, I unpack what loss aversion actually is, why marketers have been using it on you for decades, and how to flip it so it works for you instead. Let's dive in! What's Discussed: (1:53) Why your brain feels losing is twice as hard as winning and what that actually means for your daily decisions. (3:13) The exact tweak marketers use to make you act fast without realizing it. (3:45) Why "you'll feel great if you go to the gym" never works, and what does. (4:55) The reason subscription models keep growing and why you're paying for things you don't even use. (6:01) Why FOMO is just loss aversion with a different name. (8:11) The hidden driver behind why you say yes to plans you didn't want to make. (9:17) The "girl math" confession that explains why a 10% Rakuten reward turns into hundreds in unnecessary spending. (12:03) The flip that turns loss aversion from your weakness into your most reliable motivator. Thank You to Our Sponsors! AirDoctor: Head to AirDoctorPro.com and use promo code HUSTLE to get up to $300 OFF today! AirDoctor comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, plus a 3-year warranty (an $84 value) FREE! Kion: Visit getkion.com/habits for 20% OFF Momentous: Ready to try supplements that actually do what they claim? Head to livemomentous.com and use code JEN for 35% OFF your first subscription. Therasage: Visit Therasage.com and use code JEN to get 15% OFF your order. Your skin deserves this level of care. Magic Mind: Head over to magicmind.com/jen and use code JEN at checkout. Prolon: Prolon is offering listeners 30% OFF sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program! Just visit prolonlife.com/JENNIFERCOHEN and use the code JENNIFERCOHEN to claim your discount and your bonus gift. Rho Nutrition: Go to RhoNutrition.com and try Rho's Liposomal Glutathione. Use code JEN20 for 20% OFF sitewide. Manna Vitality: Try it now by using the code Jennifer20 at mannavitality.com Find more from Jen:  Website: jennifercohen.com Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements

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Starting point is 00:00:01 Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crash it. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to thank our sponsor, Momentus. When your goal is health span, living better, and longer, there are very few non-negotiables. One of them, quality. And when it comes to supplements designed for high performers, nobody does it better than Momentus. Momentus goes all in on NSF certification, which means every single batch is tested for heavy metals, harmful additives, and label accuracy. And that's why they're trusted by all 32 NFL teams and top collegiate sports dietitians across the country. Here's the thing. They don't sell every supplement under the sun because they believe in nailing the basics
Starting point is 00:00:52 with rock solid consistency. And those basics are protein and creatine. Momentous sources creopure. the purest form of creatine monohydrate available, an absolute must for both men and women who want peak physical and cognitive performance. So if you're serious about leveling up, go to live momentous.com and use code Jen for 20% off. Just act now. Start today. Gen for 20% off. Live momentous.com. Hi, everybody, and welcome to another solo of Habits and Hustle with my foil. Woo. Shawnee. Hello, everyone.
Starting point is 00:01:40 So nice to see you. I know what Sydney said? What? She goes, I haven't seen you in so long. Well, she hasn't. You've been very busy trying to save the world. I am. I'm on a mission, you guys.
Starting point is 00:01:49 One Israeli at a time. If it's the last thing I do, peace in the Middle East will come. Yes. I mean, that's what we all want. But that's where you've been. I haven't seen you for so long. Yeah. All right. So I want to talk to you guys today about something that I, I kind of was at doing some work on something, I guess a week or so ago. And I wrote a little note to myself. I jotted a note down because I really wanted to have a podcast talking about something. Have you had a physical written note with a pen?
Starting point is 00:02:18 Yeah, I was in a meeting and I was talking about this whole concept. And then I'm like, you know, this would make a really interesting podcast episode. I want to talk about it. And I want to bring it up with you. And what the topic is and what it is, it's a psychological marketing technique and it's the loss aversion technique. Have you ever heard of this? I have heard of this. Okay. I have heard of this years ago. Okay. Interesting concept.
Starting point is 00:02:44 It's a great concept. I think I subconsciously use it a lot, but I don't know the depths of it too well. Okay. Well, this is what it's basically what it basically is. And I wrote down some notes. It basically is human beings, people are twice as sensitive to law. loss, then they are to gains. So if I give you $100, you'll be happy. But if you had to lose $100, you'd be twice as unhappy. Yes. Right. That makes sense, actually. It's crazy. So what marketing
Starting point is 00:03:16 people do when they're creating a campaign or what salespeople do is that they want you to know basically what you'll lose if you don't do something versus what you will gain. Because that psychologically what the loss in your head is so much more severe than whatever whatever that gain is. So like now that we're in 2024 and we are all talking about New Year's resolutions and what to do, you know, all these things we want to like we want to accomplish and do. If you really want to get someone to do what you want, if you want to try to persuade somebody to do something that you want them to do, you would tweak your technique based on this idea of loss ofversion. So, for example, if I said to you, Shawnee, come to the gym, you're going to get really fit.
Starting point is 00:04:11 Actually, it would be way more persuasive if I said to you, Shawnee, come to the gym or else you're going to get really fat. That would get me to the gym so much faster. Right. If I said to you, Shawnee, come to the gym. because or else you're going to get really fat by not doing this thing that psychologically will make you do that thing so much easier and quicker than me talking about. Oh, Shawnee, if you come to the gym, you're going to get really strong. You're going to get really fit, you know, and you are going to feel great. Yeah, okay. Yeah, you like that. You may go, but you won't go as consistently and as quickly. is if I told you of all the stuff, like if I said, well, you're going to get fat, you're not going to look as good. My skin's going to get bad. You're going to get bad. You're not going to get your mood.
Starting point is 00:05:01 You're going to have, you're going to get depressed. You're not going to have a great mood. If I focus on all those things, you'll go way quicker. You'll be alone forever. You'll be alone for. I didn't say that. That would get me there fast. Like, okay, and that's why that I was going through all these like negotiation techniques.
Starting point is 00:05:16 Like it says here, like in negotiation, individuals may be more motivated to make concessions to avoid perceive losses rather than gain something. So when negotiating, emphasizing what the other party may lose by not agreeing to the terms can be a much more powerful persuasion or customer retention. That's why subscription models crush. You see how everybody now are now doing subscription, every company, every business are basically creating their businesses around these subscription models. And this is for the same reason, because they basically employ loss ofversion by offering discounted rates for continued membership or reminding customers about the benefits they'll lose if they cancel.
Starting point is 00:06:01 That's so interesting. And it's true. Like, if I think about all the subscriptions that I have, that I have, I never use, by the way. I never use any, I use Netflix. I use. What else do I use? What else would I use? I don't know what you subscribe to.
Starting point is 00:06:15 I mean, very few do I actually use in subscription, right? But the idea of, like, me not having it and then I would be, missing out on something that they have and then I won't have it. It's like, kind of like FOMO. It's FOMO. The entire time you've been talking, I'm thinking like this is literally Gen Z FOMO marketing. That's the whole idea is like getting people to see that like they might miss out. That's the whole concept. Because I see it is. It's the idea. It's basically loss of version technique is equivalent to FOMO because a lot of times when I don't go to an event or a party or something that I was invited to or should go to. The reason what makes me go is because of what I would
Starting point is 00:06:57 be missing, not based on what I would be gaining. Like, I never think, oh, well, I'll see a lot of people that I haven't seen. I'll, I will talk to some great people. I'll socialize. You know, I'll have a couple of non-alcoholic drinks because I don't drink. I would think, oh, my God, who would be there that I would not get a chance to meet? Or like, what am I missing? What? going to happen, what drama will happen, or what am I going to be missing out on versus what I would be gaining. And if you really think about why you do the things that you do, you notice that that's kind of why you're doing what you're doing a lot of the times. So like these subscription models, like I was going through a bunch of them, like all these like, I don't know, even like
Starting point is 00:07:41 supplement companies. I'm like, what if I run out of this thing and I'm not going to get it? Or I don't want to spend the $4 it's going to cost me to buy them singularly. I'd rather pay for it all year and save 67 cents on each bottle. Like, that's really what I think. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to think of, like, how clothes gets marketed to me because I'm a big shopper when it comes to clothes. By the way, in lieu of our last podcast before, my system, not resolution, is to purchase higher quality items and less cheap items. My way of doing that is limiting myself to, like, one to two items a month that are actually good quality pieces instead of, like, a lot of shopping.
Starting point is 00:08:18 but I'm thinking when I'm being sold those things, I'm not necessarily buying it because I love the outfit. I'm buying it because I don't not want to look like the person wearing the outfit that I'm seeing wearing. I'm like I have to, I can't miss out on looking like that for a day. Do you know what I mean? Or for like a time. Like it's just such a right. It's like a thing of it's crazy. It's a scarcity. It's so crazy. It's a scarcity or lack of that is basically motivating your behavior versus. what you'll gain from that behavior. 100%. Like when a salesperson, and I, you know, and that's what that was what the meeting was really about. Like I was saying like when someone sells me something, a really good salesperson, what they do really well is they embed in me all the things that I will lose or lose out on if I don't do the thing versus play up the positives. And that's when they get me every time, right?
Starting point is 00:09:15 Yeah, yeah. Like, oh, you know, like right now. the membership, even at the fitness, you know, is no initiation fee, let's just say. I was like, there was a number of like class things that I wanted to like buy. I was like, oh, if I, and the deal and I had to stop myself because I thought, okay, to save $10 or $15 a month. But if I sign up in four months, like does that matter 15? I'm going to sign up now for 15. It's like crazy. I'm going to give you a great example. I actually fought that. I fought that. I fought that one, but they worked hard. Oh, they almost got me. This is a really good example. And Noah, my husband makes fun of me.
Starting point is 00:09:48 all the time about this. He says it's it's girl math. Oh yeah. Girl math is the best. And I think it all the time. All the time. Like for an example, Rackatan. Rackutan. I think it's called Racutan, right? Like, it's that app that, you know, you get back a percentage of money for every dollar you spend. Okay. So like, and it changes all the time based on the day, right? So like for an example, if I'm going to Bloomingdale's or for I'm shopping online at Bloomingdale's, you know, one day, I could save 2% on Rackatan, or I get 2% of my money back, or I'll get some days 10%. Something in my brain must be like flashing. When I see the number going to 10% or 12%, I think three, I'm like, oh my God,
Starting point is 00:10:34 I'll be making so much money. So I'll buy a bunch of stuff that I don't even need, like spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on crap I don't need because I'm saving, technically, even though I'm not saving, I'm making back 10% when really I'm not making a damn thing back. I'm just spending a lot of money and then I'll get a check in the mail for like 10% with it. It's just like so ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:10:58 And that's what those companies are so good and they get you every time. They really do. Yeah. They're marketing, I always knew marketing did wonders on me. But even as a kid, my dad had an ad agency. I grew up learning about marketing tactics and not to be sold.
Starting point is 00:11:15 And yet here I am sitting, buying everything. I'm like, oh, that's, that's great. That's nice. That works, you know? A hundred percent. You're meaning seven touch points with me. You could just get me on like one ad. No, it's 100%. Like people who are amazing marketers are really good at understanding human psychology and what makes a brain tick. So to me, like those to me, like marketers are the best psychologists in the world, bar none, because they know how to get your brain to act, to react, what you're going to react to,
Starting point is 00:11:47 they know what you're going to do 20 steps before you even do it. And so, you know, I just want, I guess the purpose of me talking about this is, number one, if you are a marketer or if you are someone starting a business, understand what this loss ofversion technique is. I think it's really helpful when you're trying to acquire customers. And if you're a customer and not someone who's starting a business, be mindful and cognizant that this is a really brilliant technique of what works. and what you should be very aware of so you don't make, you know, silly decisions and choices.
Starting point is 00:12:22 That's it. 100%. And also use this as motivation. Like, if you're not motivating yourself with the positive that you're going to get from something, then motivate yourself with the negatives. You're not going to get by not doing that thing or you're going to get by not doing that thing. So if getting to the, if being fit doesn't get you to the gym, but potentially getting out of shape gets you to the gym, then use that. Use that fuel.
Starting point is 00:12:43 If it's not making the money that gets you to your job or like inspires you, then maybe it's not having any money that gets you motivated, you know? Well, I think everything is about that, right? It's about thinking of what will happen if you don't do it versus what happens if you do it. I think that's all that motivates. It works for me every time. Obviously, it works on you. It works on a lot of people. Just keep that idea in your head, that technique in your head.
Starting point is 00:13:09 And let us know, comment. You know what? That's a great thing. Like if you guys, whoever's watching this, listening to this, give me in comments some examples of where this actually, this tactic worked on you or where you have used this tactic to help in your situation. I think I'm always fascinated by this stuff. This to me is super fascinating. So let me know. Leave a comment and let me know.

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