Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives (26 page)

Many thanks to everyone who shared their experiences with me—I'd never be able to imagine such thought-provoking, fascinating examples of how people deal with their habits. Most of my ideas about habits come from talking to the people around me, so I deeply appreciate the contribution of my family, friends, colleagues, and readers who told me their own stories of habit formation—and who patiently listened to me talk about my theories. A special thanks to my “recruits.” I hope they got as much from the experience as I did.

My deepest heartfelt thanks go to my brilliant agent, Christy Fletcher, whose judgment and advice play an essential role in everything I do. And thanks also to everyone at Fletcher & Company.

I felt very lucky to get to work with the extraordinary people at Crown: Tina Constable, Mary Choteborsky, Molly Stern, and the whole outstanding team there. Thanks, too, to Lisa Highton at Two Roads Books (UK) and Nita Provonost and Kristin Cochrane at Doubleday (Canada), and all the great people there.

Many thanks to Beth Rashbaum, who gave me invaluable editorial guidance. Thanks as well to my friends A. J. Jacobs, Michael Melcher, Oliver Burkeman, Rosemary Ellis, Kamy Wicoff, and Warren St. John, who generously offered me their time and energy to give me valuable comments.

As always, a special thanks to Jamie, Eliza, and Eleanor, and my whole family, who give me everyday life in Utopia.

Note about anecdotal sources: I've changed some people's identifying details, edited emails and reader posts for clarity and length, and rearranged the chronology of some events.

“Researchers were surprised to find”
Roy Baumeister and John Tierney,
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
(New York: Penguin, 2011), 239.

People with better self-control
For a helpful discussion of the benefits of strong willpower, see Baumeister and Tierney,
Willpower,
9–12, 260; Kelly McGonigal,
The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It
(New York: Avery, 2012), 12; Terrie Moffitt et al., “A Gradient of Childhood Self-Control Predicts Health, Wealth, and Public Safety,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
108, no. 7 (2011): 2693–98.

Yet one study suggests
Wilhelm Hoffman et al., “Everyday Temptations: An Experience Sampling Study of Desire, Conflict, and Self-Control,”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
102, no. 6 (June 2012): 1318–35; Baumeister and Tierney,
Willpower
, 3–4.

when people were asked to identify their failings
Baumeister and Tierney,
Willpower
, 2; see also the Values in Action Project, Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman, eds.,
Character Strength and Virtues
(Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2004).

freedom from decision making is crucial
Kathleen Vohs et al., “Making Choices Impairs Subsequent Self-Control: A Limited-Resource Account of Decision Making, Self-Regulation, and Active Initiative,”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
94, no. 5 (May 2008): 883–98.

people feel more in control
Wendy Wood, Jeffrey Quinn, and Deborah Kashy, “Habits in Everyday Life: Thought, Emotion, and Action,”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
83, no. 6 (2002): 1281–97.

stress doesn't necessarily make us likely
Wendy Wood, David Neal, and Aimee Drolet, “How Do People Adhere to Goals When Willpower Is Low? The Profits (and Pitfalls) of Strong Habits,”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
104, no. 6 (2013): 959–75.

as it speeds time, habit also deadens
Wood, Quinn, and Kashy, “Habits in Everyday Life.”

we repeat about 45 percent
Ibid.

If I consider my life honestly
Christopher Alexander,
The Timeless Way of Building
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 67–68.

Poor diet, inactivity, smoking
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (August 2012),
http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overview/index.htm
.

“Surprisingly few clues are ever offered”
John Updike,
Self-Consciousness: Memoirs
(New York: Knopf, 1989).

“Running seems like the most efficient” Leslie Fandrich, “May Exercise Plans,” May 2, 2013,
http://bit.ly/1lzbCWa
.

Research shows that morning people
For a fascinating investigation of the issues related to chronotypes, see Till Roenneberg,
Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So Tired
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012).

Larks are likely to be happier
Renee Biss and Lynn Hasher, “Happy as a Lark: Morning-type Younger and Older Adults Are Higher in Positive Affect,”
Emotion
12, no. 3 (June 2012): 437–41.

people lean toward being “promotion-focused”
For an extensive discussion of this distinction, see Heidi Grant Halvorson and E. Tory Higgins,
Focus: Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence
(New York: Hudson Street, 2013).

start with modest, manageable steps
Charles Duhigg,
The
Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
(New York: Random House, 2012), 112.

“tiny habits”
For a discussion, see B. J. Fogg's website,
www.tinyhabits.com
; see also Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer,
The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work
(Cambridge: Harvard Business Review Press, 2011).

some people do better when they're very ambitious
See, for example, James Claiborn and Cherry Pedrick,
The Habit Change Workbook: How to Break Bad Habits and Form Good Ones
(Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 2001), 160.

“I have a great respect”
Jeff Goodell, “Steve Jobs in 1994: The Rolling Stone Interview,”
Rolling Stone
, June 16, 1994, republished January 17, 2011.

what habits work for
them
Mason Currey,
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work
(New York: Knopf, 2013).

roadside speed display
“The Problem of Speeding in Residential Areas,” in Michael S. Scott,
Speeding in Residential Areas
, 2nd ed., Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, U.S. Department of Justice, 2010,
http://www.popcenter.org/problems/pdfs/Speeding_Residential_Areas.pdf.

people estimated that in the course
Gretchen Reynolds,
The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer
(New York: Hudson Street, 2012), 97; see also David R. Bassett, Jr., et al., “Pedometer-Measured Physical Activity and Health Behaviors in U.S. Adults,”
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
42, no. 10 (October 2010): 1819–25.

70 percent of Americans were overweight
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FastStats, “Obesity and Overweight,”
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm
.

keeping a food journal
Jack F. Hollis et al., “Weight Loss During the Intensive Intervention Phase of the Weight-Loss Maintenance Trial,”
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
35, no. 2 (August 2008): 118–26.

Americans, on average, walked 5,117 steps
Bassett et al., “Pedometer-Measured Physical Activity.”

wearing a pedometer and trying to hit a goal
“Counting Every Step You Take,”
Harvard Health Letter,
September 2009.

article about the Jawbone UP band
David Pogue, “2 Wristbands Keep Tabs on Fitness,”
New York Times
, November 14, 2012.

poor judges of how much we're eating
Brian Wansink,
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
(New York: Bantam, 2006), 60.

“unit bias”
Andrew Geier, Paul Rozin, and Gheorghe Doros, “Unit Bias: A New Heuristic That Helps Explain the Effect of Portion Size on Food Intake,”
Psychological Science
17, no. 6 (2006): 521–25.

the bigger the package
Wansink,
Mindless Eating
, 59–60.

people avoid the smallest and largest
Kathryn Sharpe, Richard Staelin, and Joel Huber, “Using Extremeness Aversion to Fight Obesity: Policy Implications of Context Dependent Demand,”
Journal of Consumer Research
35 (October 2008): 406–22; see also Pierre Chandon, “How Package Design and Packaged-Based Marketing Claims Lead to Overeating,”
Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy
35, no. 1 (2013): 7–31.

When people preplate their food
Wansink,
Mindless Eating,
56.

current research suggests that weighing each day
John Tierney, “Be It Resolved,”
New York Times,
January 6, 2012.

people weigh their highest on Sunday
Anna-Leena Orsama et al., “Weight Rhythms: Weight Increases During Weekends and Decreases During Weekdays,”
Obesity Facts
7, no. 1 (2014): 36–47.

being “too tired” is the most common reason
Piers Steel,
The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done
(New York: Harper, 2010), 147.

for every hour of interrupted sleep
Lauren Weber, “Weary Workers Learn to Count Sheep Using Special Lighting, Office Nap Pods,”
Wall Street Journal
, January 23, 2013.

My friend Laura Vanderkam
Laura Vanderkam,
168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think
(New York: Portfolio, 2011).

thirty people were asked to estimate
Dilip Soman, “Effects of Payment Mechanism on Spending Behavior: The Role of Rehearsal and Immediacy of Payments,”
Journal of Consumer Research
27, no. 4 (March 2001): 460–74.

Americans ate less than a fifth
Gary Taubes,
Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
(New York: Anchor, 2011), 67.

While some experts advise focusing
Roy Baumeister and John Tierney,
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
(New York: Penguin, 2011), 38.

people who work on one positive habit
See, e.g., Megan Oaten and Ken Cheng, “Longitudinal Gains in Self-Regulation from Regular Physical Exercise,”
British Journal of Health Psychology
11 (2006): 717–33; Charles Duhigg,
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
(New York: Random House, 2012), 97–109; James O. Prochaska, John C. Norcross, and Carlo C. DiClemente,
Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward
(New York: Harper, 1994), 57.

Being mildly but chronically short of sleep
Eve Van Cauter et al., “The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Hormone and Metabolism,”
Medscape Neurology
7, no. 1 (2005),
http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/502825
.

Among its most helpful benefits
Oaten and Cheng, “Longitudinal Gains in Self-regulation.”

The people who get the biggest boost
Gretchen Reynolds,
The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer
(New York: Hudson Street Press, 2012), 9–11.

about half have dropped out
Shirley Wang, “Hard-Wired to Hate Exercise?”
Wall Street Journal
, February 19, 2013.

exercise doesn't promote weight loss
For a helpful discussion of this issue, see Reynolds,
First 20 Minutes
, 80–95; Gary Taubes,
Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
(New York: Anchor, 2011), chap. 4.

it takes twenty minutes for the body
David Lewis,
Impulse: Why We Do What We Do Without Knowing Why We Do It
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013), 146.

Many people point to studies
See, e.g., “NWCR Facts,” National Weight Control Registry,
http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/
.

a study of existing research
Andrew W. Brown, Michelle M. Bohan Brown, and David B. Allison, “Belief Beyond the Evidence: Using the Proposed Effect of Breakfast on Obesity to Show 2 Practices That Distort Scientific Evidence,”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
98, no. 5 (2013): 1298–308; Anahad O'Connor, “Myths Surround Breakfast and Weight,”
Well
blog,
New York Times,
September 10, 2013.

In one study of dieting women
Angela Kong et al., “Self-Monitoring and Eating-Related Behaviors Are Associated with 12-Month Weight Loss in Postmenopausal Overweight-to-Obese Women,”
Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
112, no. 9 (September 2012): 1428–35.

we don't have to drink eight glasses
Reynolds,
First 20 Minutes
, 63–64.

the habit of bed making
Duhigg,
Power of Habit
, 109.

almost one in ten Americans had meditated
Patricia M. Barnes, Barbara Bloom, and Richard L. Nahin, “Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults and Children: United States, 2007,”
CDC National Health Statistics Report #12,
December 10, 2008.

Happiness expert Daniel Gilbert
Daniel Gilbert,
Stumbling on Happiness
(New York: Knopf, 2006), 223–33.

The Miracle of Mindfulness
Thich Nhat Hanh,
The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1999).

Real Happiness
Sharon Salzberg,
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation
(New York: Workman, 2010).

Salzberg suggests starting with twenty minutes
Ibid., 35.

thinking about the Isaiah Berlin essay
Isaiah Berlin,
The Hedgehog and the Fox,
2nd ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013).

“Beware of all enterprises”
Henry David Thoreau,
Walden
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004), 22.

researchers at University College London
Phillippa Lally et al., “How Are Habits Formed: Modeling Habit Formation in the Real World,”
European Journal of Social Psychology
40 (2010): 998–1009.