How to Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman

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May 10, 2021

Katy Milkman, a behavioral scientist and professor at the Wharton School, delves into the art of changing habits. She reveals the challenges of forming healthy habits, including the pitfalls of willpower and instant gratification. Through engaging techniques like 'temptation bundling,' she emphasizes making habit change fun and integrating enjoyable activities with the less appealing tasks. Milkman also discusses the importance of community support and flexible strategies, offering practical advice, including 'piggybacking' on existing routines and utilizing fresh starts for motivation.

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ADVICE

Temptation Bundling

Make unpleasant tasks enjoyable to increase persistence.
Link something pleasurable with a dreaded task, like listening to audiobooks only while exercising.

INSIGHT

Willpower Is Overrated

Willpower is overrated; relying on it less is beneficial.
Build habits and routines that automate good behaviors rather than constantly relying on self-control.

ADVICE

Commitment Devices

Use "the stick" approach, creating consequences for not meeting goals.
Formalize commitments with penalties like forfeiting money to disliked charities for failures.

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To state the blazingly obvious, creating healthy habits can be infernally difficult. But why? And what are the best strategies for getting around this? My guest today has spent nearly two decades researching these questions. Her name is Katy Milkman. She is a behavioral scientist and professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She hosts a podcast called Choiceology and has written a new book called, How to Change. In this conversation, we talk about why willpower is such an unreliable inner resource, why making habit change fun is such a powerful technique, and key strategies such as “the fresh start effect,” “temptation bundling,” “commitment devices,” “piggybacking,” and giving yourself a Mulligan. We also talk about the potentially sensitive subject of getting other people to change. Are you interested in teaching mindfulness to teens? Looking to carve your own path and share this practice in a way that feels real, authentic, and relevant in today’s world? Our friends at iBme are accepting applications for their Mindfulness Teacher Training program - catered towards working with teens and young adults. The last round of applications are due May 15th and scholarships are available. For more information and to apply, check out: https://ibme.com/mindfulness-teacher-training/. We also want to deeply thank and recognize mental health professionals for your support. For a year's FREE access to the app and hundreds of meditations and resources visit: https://www.tenpercent.com/mentalhealth. We have one final item of business, and it is an invitation for you to participate in this show. In June, we’ll be launching a special series of podcast episodes focusing on anxiety – something I’m sure we’re all too familiar with. In this series, you’ll become intimately familiar with the mechanics of anxiety: how and why it shows up and what you may be doing to feed it. And this is where you come in. We’d love to hear from you with your questions about anxiety that experts will answer during our anxiety series on the podcast. So whether you’re struggling with social anxiety, anxiety about re-entering the world post-Covid, or have any other questions about anxiety - we want to hear from you. To submit a question or share a reflection call (646) 883-8326 and leave us a voicemail. If you’re outside the United States, you can email us a voice memo file in mp3 format to listener@tenpercent.com. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, May 12th. Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/katy-milkman-345