WEBVTT - Lab 049: The Habit Equation 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.160 Do you think folks are sticking with their New Year's 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:04.080 resolutions or have they dropped them already? 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:06.160 No, at this point, absolutely not. 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.680 I think most people were committed January first through fourth, 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:11.959 and then we saw great drop off. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:12.240 Then. 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:15.360 Yeah, all the commercials that have been trying to rope 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:17.680 you into all these different things, whether it be gym 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:22.040 memberships or managing your money properly or whatever. It seems 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:25.959 like those commercials have stopped because maybe y'all have fell 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:26.920 off those habits. 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:27.760 I don't know. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.000 I just know for me and my house, good habits 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.879 are hard to come by. Okay, Yeah, new habits are 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:34.640 hard to come by. 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:35.240 Yes. 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.600 It always feels like it takes a significant amount of 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:40.040 activation energy to start. 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:40.440 A new habit. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.400 Yes, not just to start it, but especially for it 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:45.640 to solidify and to stick around. 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.040 It feels like it takes almost all your energy. 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.040 Sometimes I have to sit down the other things I 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:52.240 was already doing so I can focus on the new 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:53.279 thing I want to do. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:55.840 I think the only habit that I've been able to 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.560 maintain is ordering off door dash. 0:00:58.720 --> 0:00:59.160 That's it. 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:02.720 Were you trying to pick that habit up? 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.400 No, it just happened over the pandemic. 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:06.240 It just happened. 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.920 I'm t T and I'm Zachiah and from Spotify. This 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:39.560 is Dope Labs. Welcome to Dope Labs, a weekly podcast 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:43.319 that mixes hardcore science, pop culture, and a healthy dosa friendship. 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:45.600 For our last installment of our new year series, we're 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:47.160 talking all about habits. 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:49.120 And when we look back. We learned quite a few 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:51.160 things over the past few weeks. Yeah, like with. 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.720 Sleep and how important it is. I've learned that I might. 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.120 Sleep a little bit too much, which I didn't think was. 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:02.000 Possible before talking to doctor Jean Louis. We also learned 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.880 about vitamins and how I probably need to be just 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:06.840 eating better. 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:09.640 I know. 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.720 I learned a lot about our immune system and how 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.399 it works and how it kicks itself in the gear 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:16.720 to keep us healthy. 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:18.560 There are some things that I might need to pick up, 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.280 but there's some stuff I'm like, it just is what 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:22.600 it is. 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:24.720 I hope you're picking up going to bed, because it 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.560 sounds like you really need to get some sleep. Friends, 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.560 But I guess, no matter where you fall on this 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:33.880 spectrum of oh, I want to pick up these new 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.520 habits or change the way I'm doing things, how you 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.600 create new habits or ditch the bad ones is really 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:42.400 really important. 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:44.920 Yes, the good news is we're going to talk all 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:45.760 about it today. 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:46.840 Perfect timing. 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:57.880 Let's get into the recitation. So what do we know? 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:00.920 Well, habits are like the Konami code or shortcuts of 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.360 self improvement. There are like those hot keys on your 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.160 computer that let you move everything off the desktop to 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:08.000 help you get directly to the action. 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.120 Yeah, command, shift, see or whatever. 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:18.239 I know that forming new habits, good habits can be 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:19.400 really really hard. 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.400 But you know what's easy though? What forming bad habits? 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:23.880 Oh? Yeah, I've got plenty of those. 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.040 Plenty, I got plenty effortless okay. 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.080 It takes no energy at all. So what do we 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:29.560 want to know? 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:31.640 I want to know why it's so hard to form 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.280 the good habits, right, What is the barrier there? 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:34.640 Yeah? 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.480 I want to know what's going on in our brains 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.640 when we are in the process of trying to form 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:44.760 a new habit. Is there something neurologically that makes it 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.480 easy for some habits and harder for other habits to stick? 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:50.960 Is there a social component, you know, like the buddy 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:52.560 system They say, like, oh, if you're doing something to 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:53.480 have a friend do it with you? 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.120 What is the heck? Is there a hack to habit? 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:57.200 Give us the life hack. 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.840 Yes, TikTok has not shown me that I've searched every 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.960 corner of TikTok, I've not found it. And even when 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.440 I say TikTok, I mean TikTok on Instagram, you mean. 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:13.200 TikTok on reels. All right, let's jump into the dissection. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.480 Our guest for today's lab is the author of Good Habits, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.559 Bad Habits, Doctor Wendy Wood. 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.880 My name is Wendy Wood, and I'm a behavioral scientist. 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:32.960 I study habits and mostly why they're so difficult to change. 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:39.480 I'm on the faculty at the University of Southern California. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.599 Before we even get to defining a habit tity, I 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:44.560 already know what they're going to try to tell us. 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.520 They're going to try and say, it's twenty one days 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:48.279 to make a habit. 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:49.680 I think we've all heard it. 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:52.120 We've heard it, We've seen it everywhere. But guess what 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:53.000 they're wrong. 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:56.400 Doctor Wood's already told us that you guys are taking 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:57.960 this weight out of context. 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:02.240 It was a popular book in the nineteen sixties that 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:07.080 was written by a surgeon explaining how long it takes 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:11.240 people to get used to a new face or a 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:16.440 new image after plastic surgery. So it didn't have anything 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:17.960 to do with habits. 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.360 Okay, so we know we all have habits, but what 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:23.919 exactly makes a habit repetition? 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:28.560 Every time you repeat a behavior, your mind is processing 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:35.120 it in part of your brain which stores habit memories. 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:40.440 It connects where you are and what behavior you're repeating 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.600 that gets some reward that makes you feel good, and 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.480 that enjoyment is really important for repeating a behavior, and 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.400 it could be just feeling pride. It's just a good 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:52.480 feeling that you have when you do the behavior. 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.840 So when we repeat behaviors that feel good, we're forming 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.000 these mental associations so that in the right context, that 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:01.440 habit is automatically activated. 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:04.480 So it's like standing in front of your bathroom sink 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.000 in the morning. The habit that's activated for most of 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:10.320 us is brushing our teeth, and we do it without 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.000 thinking a whole lot. Am I gonna do it today? 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.479 Do I want to? How do I do it? You 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.120 don't have to ask those questions because you have a habit. 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.239 You just repeat what you've done before. 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.800 Habits allow us to go on autopilot for certain tasks, 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:25.880 like brushing your teeth or making coffee. 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.920 What's your morning habit that you're just on autopilot for. 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:31.599 Oh, it's probably a bad habit that I need to break, 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:36.120 which is first things. First, I'm checking my phone. I 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.680 don't even realize it, and I'll realize, Oh, I've been 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:40.800 scrolling on my phone for five minutes since I woke up. 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:42.640 I need to stand up and get my day started. 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.280 But then right after that, it's got to the bathroom, 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:46.520 brush my teeth. 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:47.800 What about you. 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.160 I reach around for my phone and as I'm standing up, 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.560 I'm unlocking it. I'm usually seeing if my Apple Watch 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:59.040 is dead or dead or alive, dead or alive. And 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.520 then I'm calling my dad as I'm walking to make 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:02.800 coffee in the kitchen. 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.760 I want to incorporate your dad into my morning routine. 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.200 Who you think you want that dose of energy in 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:08.599 the morning. 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:16.720 Hey, I won't need a cup of coffee. 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.480 So making coffee is easy for me. I like doing it. 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:21.520 It makes me feel good. 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.200 But the problem is when it comes to those behaviors 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.480 that are harder to do, like t t Remember that 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.280 time I tried to be shy and quiet. No matter 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.360 how hard I tried, or I tried to commit to it, 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:33.400 I just kept falling off. 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.840 Uh huh, she couldn't do it. Why was that lasted 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:36.600 for two minutes? 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:38.400 I could do it for two minutes. 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:47.160 So we experience will power. It's exerting self control. It's 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:50.360 a bit of a struggle. It takes effort, and the 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:54.560 challenge with willpower is this. Let's say you decide I'm 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.520 not gonna snack anymore in the afternoon. I'm gonna just 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:00.560 quit that. As soon as you start saying that, you 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.880 start thinking, Okay, what am I missing? What am I 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:08.040 denying myself? What can't I have? Now, there's great research 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:12.720 showing that that has ironic effects, which then get us 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:14.480 to think more and more about the thing that we 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.239 can't have, and then all of a sudden, we can't 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:21.640 really keep ourselves from doing the thing that we tried 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:26.240 not to do. That's the ironic effects of desire. If 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.280 you try to control it, it just kind of takes over. 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.960 Yes, there was a time when I decided that I 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.200 wasn't going to drink soda anymore, in particular the soda 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.000 that has the tightest grip on me is Coca cola. 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:40.800 And that's because I don't want my teeth falling out 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.040 of my mouth. I can't afford veneers. I don't want 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.040 to have to go to Columbia to get them. So 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.880 I was like, Okay, let me get back on the 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.880 Coca cola. And then all of a sudden, I felt 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.960 like I saw Coca Cola ads everywhere. I felt like 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.000 everyone around me was drinking Coca cola. It felt like 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.040 I was depriving myself of this thing. It was just everywhere. 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.120 I felt like I could smell it, and it became 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.319 like the hardest thing ever. So I ended up caving 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.480 because I was just like, this is taking over my mind. 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:10.160 I could barely think. Every day. 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:12.720 All I did was focus on not drinking co cola, 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:14.679 which made me want to drink Coca cola even more. 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:16.640 So I just said, okay, well, maybe I'll drink it 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:18.680 with a straw to try and avoid my teeth. 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:22.599 It doesn't work that way, but it's okay. 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.560 Are you putting the straw directly into your side. 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:33.040 It's really hard to use willpower effectively to control habits. 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.679 Willpower just doesn't last as long as your habit's going to. 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.000 So doctor would explain that while we all know what 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.040 it feels like to try to use willpower, we're actually 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:43.960 less familiar with our habits. 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:49.719 Habits proceed in a way that isn't accessible to conscious awareness. 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.080 We can't just sort of look at the habit and 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.840 decide what it is. We don't have access to that. 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.000 According to doctor Wood, the habit system works kind of 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.680 independently from our conscious awareness of our behaviors. 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:04.000 It works through experience. 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.080 So you can tell yourself, I want a new habit, 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.200 I'm going to make a decision, But that doesn't do 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:13.000 anything to habit memory. That's your conscious self. Habit memory 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:17.040 is somewhat separate from that and has a different logic 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:21.239 to it. Habit memory is so simple that all mammals 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.640 have learned through habit. It's how your dog learns, it's 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.040 how whales learn, it's how cows learn. So you have 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.400 to keep in mind how basic it must be for 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.920 all of those animals to be able to learn in 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:35.959 a similar way. 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:38.160 So we're basically all Pavlov's dogs. 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.360 Maybe this is why I've yet to be able to 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.920 teach my dog Daisy a trick, because I'd be like 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.040 sit and she won't do it, and I'm like, all right, girl, 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:48.800 just eat the treat. 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:56.280 It's fine. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.080 Well, even if you can't teach Daisy a trick, are 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.320 you able to at least teach yourself a drink? What 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:03.080 happened with the coke? 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:03.480 Yes? 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.800 So I ended up replacing Coca Cola with sparkling water. 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:08.800 But I had to go through kind of like a 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.440 trial and error process where I was testing out different brands, 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.760 different flavors, until I finally arrived at a brand and 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.360 flavor that could scratch my Coca Cola itch. And I 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:21.920 was like, oh, this is just as good as having 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.880 a coke. And I haven't had coke in months, well, 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.760 at this point the year, a year, I probably had 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:29.560 a coke. I know I've had a coke, but when 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:31.600 I'm not having it doesn't feel like I haven't had one, 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:33.319 Like I can't even remember when the last time I 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:33.880 had one was. 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:36.360 I remember when you could remember? 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:39.880 You remember when I was feeding? 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.040 Yes, your having those coke. She was there. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:45.760 She was there with me, shooting in the gym. 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:51.000 That's exactly what you should do when you can. Another 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:55.360 behavior that is a direct substitute can be a way 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.520 of maybe not changing the habit, but adapting it to 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.320 meet the goals that you have right now. So you're 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.440 kind of building on that habit memory that you have, 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.480 and instead of reaching for coke, you just get a 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:09.839 can of flavored water. 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.960 So you wanted to get rid of coke altogether, and 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:15.880 what you really did is kind of adapt or replace 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.560 with something else. So that makes me think about how 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:22.480 our brain really can form quote unquote good and bad habits, 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:23.600 Like is one easier? 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:24.720 Is there a difference? 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:30.720 There isn't much. They really do function very much the same. 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.920 What's different is whether they meet your goals right now. 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.880 I bet when TD started drinking coke, it woke you up, 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.680 it gives you a little bit of a sugar lift, 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:45.720 it tastes good. So all of those things are rewards. 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.040 But once you start doing it all the time, it's 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.560 really not good for you. So it was a good 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.480 habit maybe when you started. That doesn't mean it's a 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.240 good habit several months later or a year later. And 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.720 so that's the difference between good and bad habits. And 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.640 that's how bad habits form. We do something, we end 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.880 up doing it a lot. Then we realize, oh g No, 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.440 that's not really a great thing for me. 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:11.400 You know, one of the things that me and my 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:15.480 friends Kia love is skincare. And so I was trying 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.440 to have a new skincare routine, and I said, every 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:21.480 single morning and night, I'm gonna use this acid on 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:23.720 my face. And I made it into a habit where 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:25.280 in the morning I would wash my face, I would 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.200 put this acid on, and then I'll put on sunscreen 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:28.839 because that's what she's supposed to do. 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:30.640 Then at night I would do the same thing. 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:32.720 I would wash my face, I would put on this 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:37.160 bahaaj one of these ah's, and then put on a moisturizer. 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.640 After doing that for maybe like a week and a half, 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:45.599 my skin was so sensitive. I feel like I removed 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.320 a protective layer on my skin where I was just 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.200 like wow, everything that I put onto my face was burning. 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.040 Things that aren't supposed to burn were burning. And so 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:56.800 I was like, Okay, this is a little bit too much. 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:58.720 Then I need to back off the acid. 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:01.360 Yes, I think you really have to find the right 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:05.199 cadence for stuff. Similarly, and I know you've seen it. 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.560 As much as making coffee is a routine for me 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.160 in the morning, I really enjoy it. I like the 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.960 way it tastes. I also like the process of preparing 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.040 the beverage. And sometimes when I'm really stressing, I need 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:17.600 to get another cup of coffee. And it's not even 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:21.240 that I need the caffeine, because baby, once I have 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.000 a couple of cups, I'm typed to like a bad 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:30.080 man and I'm talking thirty words per second. So what 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.840 I found, though, is to combat that I have just 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.840 in my hopper, in my little bean grinder, I'm putting 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.360 mostly decaf, and then I just add in the other beans, 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:40.400 and I still have the habit of going. 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:41.560 And making the coffee in the morning. I can have 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:42.320 multiple cups. 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:46.840 But I also am not terrorizing you and Ginny and Lydia, 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.760 our producers on the back end. Right in our meetings, 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:51.560 we all can't understand each other. 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:53.200 I don't send so many links. 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.960 It's working out, and I think it's important to not 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:57.800 really think of anyone habit. 0:14:57.560 --> 0:14:59.960 As objectively good or bad. 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:00.640 Mm hmm. 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.000 I think the question is does it work for me 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:05.360 right now, right now, for who I want to be? 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:07.960 Does the frequency you know it still may be working 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:09.240 for you, but maybe you don't need. 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:10.440 Twice several times a day. 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:14.800 Yes, maybe every other day tt maybe that's okay. 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.080 To meet the goals that I have. 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:18.240 Yes, those are the adjustments that I need to make. 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.880 You see those things that float online, they're like every 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:22.560 day you should this, this, and this, and they're like 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:25.920 habit trackers. But maybe sometimes the habit is once out 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:27.360 of every seven okay. 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.400 Especially when a new year comes around, or for some 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.240 people it's their birthday, where you just feel like, Okay, 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.080 this is where I'm going to get my fresh start, 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.240 and this is what I'm gonna do. Sometimes you got 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:38.840 to think about the long game. If this is a 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:42.400 lifestyle change for you, like, okay, I want to be 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:43.480 a more avid reader. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:45.360 If you burn. 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:47.600 Yourself out in the first month because you read sixty 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:49.760 books and you can't even remember what most of the 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.320 books were about, and then. 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.800 You kill your joy of reading, then. 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:55.800 It's not gonna last very long. But if you say, okay, 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:57.840 I'm just gonna try and do one book a month, 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:00.000 and then maybe next year I'll do two books a monk, 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.480 or maybe after six months of doing one book a month, 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.040 I can up it to two or three whatever feels good. 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:06.720 But to get you to your goal, of being a 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:07.520 more avid reader. 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:08.760 So let's take a break. 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:10.680 When we come back, we're gonna talk all about how 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:12.760 to actually form habits that stick. 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.920 We're back and we're talking all about habits, the good, 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.240 the bad, and the ugly with doctor Wendy Wood. Before 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.280 we dive back into the dissection, Zakia, what are we 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:42.600 talking about next week? 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.800 Okay, so the Winter Olympics start this weekend in Beijing, 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.760 and just because there won't be fans, that doesn't mean 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.880 we aren't excited for figure skating, ski jumping, and Bob's ledding. 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.480 So next week we're talking with doctor Sophia Nipheus and 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.600 she's gonna tell us how athletes are harnessing the power 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:02.120 of physics to perform all of our favorite winter sports. 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:11.120 Okay, let's get back into the dissection. So we want 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.520 to know what are the steps to form a habit? 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:16.320 How do we do it? Doctor Woods says there are 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:20.959 three main parts repetition, rewards, and context. 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:24.200 Let's start with repetition. We said it earlier, so it's 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.240 not too surprising. Habits are repeated behaviors and we don't 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:29.320 really think too much about them, so it makes sense 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.439 that repetition is the first step in the process of 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:33.280 forming a habit. 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.200 The second part is rewards. 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:39.000 Rewards are really important for habit formation because we're just 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.400 not going to repeat behaviors that aren't rewarding in some way. 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:46.240 And I think that's a problem that people have when 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:50.320 they try to change habits, is they think, let me 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.600 do the thing that's best for me, regardless of whether 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.800 they like it or not, regardless of whether it's easy 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.640 or not. Let me choose the thing that would make 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.840 me a or person without trying to work with themselves 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.000 and figure out what they enjoy. 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.439 That makes sense to me that we're more likely to 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:11.520 repeat behaviors that feel rewarding. And beyond the psychological there's 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:15.640 also a biological reason why rewards are key for forming habits. 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.760 When you do something that feels good or that works 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:23.119 for you in some way, your brain releases dopamine. And 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:27.040 dopamine is that feel good chemical that we all know, 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.719 but it does lots of things. And one of the 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.320 things it does is it ties together all of the 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:38.920 information and memory to form those habit connections, those streamlined 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:44.000 decision making parts of the habit. Memory and dopamine works 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:47.840 for about a second, so you can't promise yourself a 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.480 reward at the end of the week. If you do something, 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:54.320 it has to be as you're performing the behavior that 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:55.800 you feel good in some way. 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:59.879 So long term rewards of a habit, like exercising or 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.400 practicing a new instrument may not be enough to get 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.480 us to commit to starting that habit. How can we 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:08.560 make a habit more fun in the moment if the 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.520 activity itself isn't intrinsically rewarding. 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.720 So I got myself an elliptical because I thought that 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:17.479 would be most similar to running. But I couldn't use 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:20.040 it because it's so boring. You have to stay in 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:22.440 the same place and just do it the same thing 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.040 over and over again. I thought it was awful until 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.639 I figured out I can read trashy novels while I 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:31.399 work out. I can watch stupid stuff on TV, but 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.240 I never normally watch And once I figured that out, 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:35.560 I love the elliptical. 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.200 You know, previously, when I thought about trying to create 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.480 some habits, I was reading James Clear's book Atomic Habits, 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:43.439 and a lot of what he said is very similar 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:45.760