Habits, and making them stickHabits, and making them stick
All In The Mind
Habits are notoriously hard to change—exercising more often, practising calmness, getting healthy—it all takes time and effort. So perhaps you’ll be pleased to know that there’s a way to get habits into your routine. We talk with Bernard Balleine, Director of the Decision Neuroscience Lab at UNSW; and with B J Fogg, founder of the Behaviour Design Lab at Stanford University about his new book Tiny Habits.
25:16•8 Mar 2020
Habits That Stick: Tiny Steps, Tough Triggers and Why Willpower Isn’t Enough
Episode Overview
- Habits behave like learned reflexes, making them hard to change once they are tied to specific cues and routines.
- Creating new habits works best when they are tiny, easy actions anchored to something you already do every day.
- Emotion and a sense of success, rather than repetition alone, are what help a behaviour become automatic.
- Picking habits you genuinely want, and making goals specific, leads to better results than vague aims or "should" behaviours.
- Serious and life‑threatening addictions require professional support, with a strong focus on avoiding powerful triggers.
“"It's not your fault. You couldn't change in the past. You just weren't given the right way."”
What drives someone to seek a life without habits that constantly derail their plans? This episode of All In The Mind gets into how habits form, why they’re so stubborn, and what it actually takes to create ones that stick. Host Sana Kadar talks first with neuroscientist Bernard Balleine, who explains habits as “essentially acquired reflexes” – automatic responses wired by repetition and context.
He points out that much of daily life is spent either giving in to these reflexes or trying to resist them, which is why breaking a muffin-and-coffee ritual or quitting a long‑standing behaviour can feel exhausting. From there, behaviour scientist BJ Fogg shares his "tiny habits" approach, built on three simple steps: make the behaviour very small, anchor it to something you already do, and help yourself feel successful each time.
His own routine of doing “two push-ups after I pee” shows how odd but effective this can be. The key message? “Shoulds do not reliably become a habit” – the behaviour has to be something you truly want, not just something you think you ought to do. Fogg also explains that emotion, not repetition alone, cements habits in the brain. By celebrating tiny wins, you “hack” your brain’s dopamine response and make the action more automatic.
He outlines how to turn vague aims like “reduce my stress” into very specific, personally appealing actions – maybe playing fetch with the dog instead of forcing meditation. Importantly for anyone dealing with addiction, both Fogg and Balleine stress that serious, life‑threatening habits are different. Fogg is explicit that people facing addiction “get professional help”, reflecting on the death of his nephew from an overdose, while Balleine highlights the need to avoid triggers rather than relying on motivation alone.
Alongside expert theory, ABC colleagues share relatable stories about running, quitting nail biting, and cutting back on coffee, showing how habit change can be messy, funny, and surprisingly long‑lasting. It might leave you asking: what’s one tiny change you’d actually enjoy starting today?
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