Habits live in places
For Wood, a habit is a shortcut your brain ties to a context, such as a room, a time of day, the people around you or whatever you just did. Once the link forms, the context sets the action off with hardly a thought.
Habits
Good Habits, Bad Habits
by Wendy Wood
How much of your day is habit?
Wendy Wood asked people to note what they were doing and thinking at moments through the day. About 43 per cent of the time, they were acting out of habit while their minds were somewhere else. So why do we try to change by force of will?
Hear a sample · read by Laura
What you'll learn
- Habits live in places
- Friction beats resolve
- Self-control is mostly set-up
- A move is a fresh start
The key ideas in Good Habits, Bad Habits
Friction beats resolve
Wood calls the small things that make an action easier or harder driving and restraining forces. She points to the fall in smoking, helped along by taxes and bans that made every cigarette more of a hassle to get and to light up.
Self-control is mostly set-up
People with high self-control report fewer battles with temptation, according to the research Wood describes. They've arranged their lives so the good choice runs on autopilot, which leaves them far less to resist.
A move is a fresh start
When students in one of Wood's studies changed universities, their old habits survived only where the new setting looked like the old one. A house move or new job scrambles your cues, which makes it a good moment to set up new ones.
Lines worth underlining
Autopilot
Around 43% of what we do each day, we do without really thinking about it.
Self-control
People who seem great at self-control mostly set up their lives so temptation rarely shows up.
Context
Habits are tied to places and times. Same spot, same hour, and the action starts by itself.
Friction
Add a little effort to the bad habit and take some away from the good one.
Repetition
A habit forms when you do the same thing the same way, again and again, with a reward soon after.
A story from the book
The stale popcorn
In one of Wood's studies, cinema-goers were handed popcorn, some of it a week old. People who always ate popcorn at the cinema ate the stale stuff just as happily. In a meeting room watching music videos, they ate far less of it.
Hot take · true or myth?
People with strong self-control spend more time resisting temptation.
See the book's answer
Myth. The research Wood draws on suggests they resist less. They've built routines and surroundings that keep temptation out of the way.
One thing to try
Add one step of friction
Pick a habit you'd like less of and put one extra step in its way today. Charge your phone in the kitchen overnight, or move the crisps to the top cupboard. Then take one step out of a habit you want more of.
There's more to Good Habits, Bad Habits
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. Good Habits, Bad Habits comes with a Hot Take round to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appQuestions about Good Habits, Bad Habits
What is Good Habits, Bad Habits about?
How much of your day is habit? Wendy Wood asked people to note what they were doing and thinking at moments through the day. About 43 per cent of the time, they were acting out of habit while their minds were somewhere else. So why do we try to change by force of will?
What are the key ideas in Good Habits, Bad Habits?
Habits live in places; Friction beats resolve; Self-control is mostly set-up; A move is a fresh start.
What's one thing to try from Good Habits, Bad Habits?
Pick a habit you'd like less of and put one extra step in its way today. Charge your phone in the kitchen overnight, or move the crisps to the top cupboard. Then take one step out of a habit you want more of.
Is Good Habits, Bad Habits on Knotd?
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from Good Habits, Bad Habits in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Hot Take round to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
