Then, allowing the time for those changes to overwrite your old routine.
When asked what stops them from making healthy lifestyle changes, Americans commonly cite a lack of willpower. Granted, willpower is useful in the short term, as we muster the motivation to, for example, sign up for a gym membership or start a diet.
But research shows that, surprisingly, people who are more successful at achieving long-term goals exert if anything, less willpower in their day-to-day lives. This makes sense: Over time, willpower fades and habits prevail.
If the answer isn’t willpower, then what is the key to controlling habits?
Changing habits begins with the environments that support them. Research shows that leveraging the cues that trigger habits in the first place can be incredibly effective. For example, reducing the visibility of cigarette packs in stores has curbed cigarette purchases.
Another path to habit change involves friction: in other words, making it difficult to act on undesirable habits and easy to act on desirable ones. For example, one study found that recycling increased after recycle bins were placed right next to trash cans – which people were already using – versus just 12 feet away.
Effectively changing behavior starts with recognizing that a great deal of behavior is habitual. Habits keep us repeating unwanted behaviors but also desirable ones, even if just enjoying a good-tasting morning brew.
Asaf Mazar is a postdoctoral fellow in Behavioral Science, University of Pennsylvania.
Wendy Wood is Provost Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Business, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
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