This guide is based on Mixergy’s interview with Charles Duhigg.
Charles Duhigg was frustrated about gaining weight from his afternoon cookie-eating habit, so he re-programmed his behavior and lost 12 pounds. It was all done by controlling habits, so we invited him to teach you how to do it.
Charles is a reporter for The New York Times and is the author of The Power of Habit, which discusses the science of habit formation and teaches people how to use it to change their habits.
Here are the actionable highlights from the course.
When Charles started gaining weight, he identified his afternoon cookie snack as the culprit and decided the cookie-eating wasn’t a habit worth keeping.
To instill exercise habits, Charles says some people use cues like putting their running clothes beside their bed or putting on their running shoes before breakfast.
Charles says that runners reward themselves at the start of a run by listening to a podcast and at the end of the run when they get a runner’s high.
Charles says that Alcoholics Anonymous helps alcoholics by substituting their drinking routine with AA meetings, which are cued by stressful events and provide a reward in the form of tension relief.
Charles says that alcoholics who feel like giving up get support and positive reinforcement from other AA members, which encourages them to try harder to control their alcoholism.
Charles explains how exercise as a keystone habit makes changing other habits easier, like eating better and procrastinating less.
Charles says that rehab patients who write action plans on how to deal with moments of intense pain recovered twice as fast as the patients who didn’t.
Watch the full interview now
Written by Hazel Chua, based on production notes by Jeremy Weisz