By SGN | Updated 27 Apr 2026
From New York to Singapore
Born in Israel and raised in Florida, Nir was an entrepreneur in his twenties, co-founding a solar panel company that was sold to private investors. After his MBA at Stanford – where he met Julie – Nir started a business placing ads on Facebook. This venture was also acquired, and it sparked his interest in behavioural design.
Based on this expertise, he wrote his first book Hooked (2014), a guide to building products that maximise user engagement. In an ironic twist, his next book Indistractable (2019) was about overcoming technological distraction, inspired by his experiences fighting the lure of devices while spending time with family.
When COVID struck in 2020, Nir and Julie were living in New York with their preteen daughter. As the pandemic spiked, Nir was alarmed by the public’s nonchalance and took to googling “best place to go during a pandemic”. Soon, the family boarded a flight to Singapore and never looked back. The English-speaking country proved to be a safe, ideal environment in which Nir and Julie could raise their daughter, host visits from their parents and pursue their business interests.
On 10 March 2026, Nir was back in New York to launch his third book Beyond Belief after six years of writing and research, and he was thrilled to celebrate it along with friends and family.
How beliefs impact our lives
The central problem that Beyond Belief highlights is how we are constantly limited by the beliefs we hold: This is too hard. I’m no good at this. It’s too late. I’m too old. I’m too young. Like barnacles on a whale, these unconscious and misleading notions accumulate, cling to us and drag us down.
“People say ‘I don’t have enough time’ as if it’s a fact,” Nir says. “But there’s no law of nature that says you don’t have enough time. It’s a story that we’re telling inside our own heads.” The way to challenge such narratives, he suggests, is to adopt alternative perspectives that serve us better and make us feel more at peace: I have plenty of time. I’m exactly where I should be. I’m learning as I go.
Just like the stage fright Nir experiences, pain is a signal that is open to interpretation. “When you can separate pain from suffering, you’ll stay much more motivated,” Nir says. A seemingly arduous task can be reframed as a path towards growth. “You can meet your full potential by learning how to not only suffer less but even enjoy things that you previously found difficult.”
Beliefs also shape relationships. Past hurts tend to dictate how we perceive and react to loved ones. “We do not see people as they are,” Nir says plainly. “We are so committed to proving to people that we’re right and they’re wrong.” Rewiring this sort of thinking requires overcoming our pride, but the effort is worthwhile. “Once we realise we don’t have to be slaves to our beliefs, it frees us up to a whole new world.”
Stories from Singapore
“Many of the stories in my book come directly from my experience in Singapore,” Nir notes. “I came across Team Strong Silvers, a group of guys in their 60s and 70s who are incredibly fit. And I remember a push-up contest where a man in his late 70s was challenging a 20-something and left him in the dust.”
In these TikTok “granfluencers”, Nir saw how powerful one’s perception of ageing can be. “Most people think, ‘Decline is inevitable as I age,’ whereas this group of men believe, ‘Growth is possible at any age,’” he says.
He cites a study that found how having positive views about ageing increases our lifespan by 7.5 years – not because thoughts have magical effects, but because those beliefs spur us to keep active, stay social and live healthy.
Although Nir considers himself a free thinker, his research led him to surprising revelations around prayer, something he hadn’t practised since he was six years old. Studies he looked at show how even prayer without faith has tangible benefits such as lower anxiety and higher self-control.
Since he lives in Singapore – where one can find mosques, mandirs, synagogues, churches and temples situated in close proximity – Nir decided it was the perfect opportunity to conduct research on the ground.
Living in this rare oasis of religious coexistence, I designed a personal experiment. I would visit each of these traditions and pose the same direct question to their spiritual leaders: “How do I pray to God if I’m not sure He’s real?”
Speaking with a rabbi, an imam, a swami, a priest and a monk, Nir learned principles of prayer that anyone could apply – how the ritual serves as an emotional reset, clarifies our thoughts and desires, helps us meditate on what matters, and makes us feel more optimistic and empowered.
“So many good things come from prayer,” he says. “And so now for the first time in my life as an adult, I’ve started praying.” When he passes by a temple, mosque or church, he stops to reflect and give thanks. “I’ll remind myself of challenges that I’m facing and ask for the strength to overcome them.”
A profound life change
Writing the book has had a profound effect on Nir’s life. “I don’t suffer as much. I’m not as stressed,” he says. Whereas a wailing baby on a flight or an aggressive driver cutting into his lane used to set him off, now he’s able to take a step back and see these moments as ways to grow his patience.
A week after the book launch, Nir received the fantastic news that Beyond Belief had debuted on the New York Times bestseller list for advice books. Perhaps his breakthrough was the result of reshaped beliefs around life’s possibilities – although his initial reaction was one of sheer surprise.
As he wrote on LinkedIn, “I was in utter disbelief (which seems ironic for a guy who’s just spent 6 years writing a book about overcoming limiting beliefs 😂)”.
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About Nir
Nir Eyal is a speaker, consultant and the bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable. His third book Beyond Belief was published in 2026 by Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Nir holds an MBA from Stanford University and lives in Singapore with his wife and daughter.
Connect with him here.
