Big Think Change bad spending habits in 5 steps | Your Brain on Money
Oct 29, 2025
Join Dr. Cerf, a neuroscientist who transitioned from hacking computers to studying brain habits, along with therapist Dr. James, who reveals how financial habits form, and habit-change expert Dr. Cable. They discuss why 40% of our daily actions are habits and how unconscious spending can derail our finances. Discover practical steps to cultivate better money habits, such as self-evaluation, intentional replacements, and the significance of social support in the journey toward financial wellness.
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Habits Run On Auto-Pilot
- Habits run much of our day and operate without conscious awareness.
- The brain shifts frequent behaviors into streamlined circuits to save resources.
Neural Efficiency Makes Habits Sticky
- Repeating tasks reduces the number of brain areas required to perform them.
- That neural efficiency makes habits hard to notice and therefore hard to change.
From Scarcity Mindset To Tiny Wins
- Some clients have resources but still spend everything because they got used to scarcity.
- Small practices like saving a dollar or one page a day can snowball into larger habits.