How to Kick Bad Habits (and Start Good Ones)
How to Kick Bad Habits (and Start Good Ones)
Source: The Happiness Lab Podcast (Listen: 32 min)
Contributor: Selena Garcia
“OUR MINDS ARE CONSTANTLY TELLING US WHAT TO DO TO BE HAPPY. BUT WHAT IF OUR MINDS ARE WRONG?” - DR. LAURIE SANTOS
This is a quick and easy one to listen to while getting ready, prepping dinner, or hopping out for a walk around the hood. For those who have dug into learning about habits already, this will cover familiar territory. Either way, it's a great reminder to check in on your routines.
As psychologist and behavior change expert Wendy Wood notes, “engaging in routine is the secret to changing our bad behaviors."
For those who don't know a lot behind the science and psychology of habits, this will help explain why it’s about working smarter, not harder.
“HABITS ARE JUST THE BEHAVIORS WE REPEAT UNTIL THEY BECOME SORT OF MENTAL SHORTCUTS. THEY’RE SHORTCUTS ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO THAT’S LIKELY TO GET YOU THE SAME REWARD AS YOU GOT IN THE PAST.” - WENDY WOOD
(7:02) DR. LAURIE: “I’m guessing most people listening to this podcast won’t ever face a behavioral challenge as hard as kicking heroin, but all of us have bad habits that detract from our health and happiness. You don’t need to be an opioid drug user to understand that it can be difficult to change our not so good ways. And the science suggested that everyday habits that plague us, can sometimes be just as hard to overcome as the addictive kind.”
(7:25) DR. LAURIE: “The problem is that the path to happiness requires changing a lot of these habitual bad behaviors. We need to stop griping, we need to put down our phones, and we need to stop craving material possessions. But how do we do that? If you’re like me, it probably feels like changing these repeated behaviors is really, really challenging. But what our lying minds don’t realize, is that we have a powerful mental tool that really could help us achieve lasting behavioral change with ease. If only we understood how that tool worked.”
LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST, HERE. (32 min)
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