The Craving Curve

Why urges rise and fall

Your brain is always trying to spend less effort. When a feeling and a setting repeat together — same hour, same room, same mood — it starts pairing them, and the pairing turns into a pull you feel before you think.

The three phases

• Trigger — the moment that starts the pull (an hour, a room, or a mood)
• Urge — the pressure to act, which peaks early
• Choice — what you do at the peak (ride it out, swap it, or follow it)

The useful part is that none of this runs on willpower — it runs on placement. You don't argue yourself into brushing your teeth; the sink at 11pm does most of that work.