Psychologist Wendy Wood found that 43% of your daily actions happen on autopilot. Willpower fails because you're trying to decide your way out of habits. The real move: change your environment. Remove junk food from the house. Put running shoes by the door.
How much of what you do in a day is actually a conscious choice? Psychologist Wendy Wood at the University of Southern California tracked people's daily behaviors and discovered something startling. She found that about 43% of what we do each day is habitual. We go about many of our tasks while thinking about something else entirely. You drive to work on the same route without deciding to. You reach for your phone at the same moments. You eat the same breakfast. These are patterns your brain has automated to save energy. Wendy says this is why willpower so often fails. We treat behavior change as a decision problem. We tell ourselves we'll eat better, we'll exercise more, but decisions only control about half of what we do. So what actually works? Wendy found the most effective way to change a habit is to change the environment that triggers it. Want to eat less junk food? Don't keep it in the house. Want to exercise more? Put your running shoes by the door the night before. This research suggests you don't need more willpower. You need a better setup. For more insights about the science of the mind, tune into Hidden Brain on Apple, Spotify, or hiddenbrain.org.
