Wendy Wood on How to Make Our Good Habits Stick in 2025 and Beyond

I know many of you — myself included — are thinking about what we want out of 2025, and with that reflection drumming up some New Year’s resolutions. As we do so, I thought it would be helpful to bring in the habit expert herself, the one and only Wendy Wood, to close season 14 and to close 2024. Whatever type of year you had — a great one, or a not so great one — a fresh start is on the horizon, and 2025 is a blank canvas that we can make of whatever we want. Wendy wrote the 2019 hit book Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick, and she walks us through today what a habit is, in the first place; how hard it really is to change our habits and, in the process, change ourselves; the science behind changing our habits, including processes like context, repetition, and reward; statistics that might stun you, like that we as humans spend 43 percent — yes, 43 percent! — of our day doing things without thinking about them, as if on autopilot; whether it is easier to make a habit or break a habit, and so much more, including the best advice she’s ever received regarding habit formation — and it is hopeful as we venture into a new year. Many of us have habits we want to make surrounding going to the gym more, and I can’t wait for you to hear the statistics Wendy brings about how environment is so important, as well as proximity. Wendy Wood is here to help us reach our goals, so let me tell you a little bit about her. She is a professor of psychology and business at the University of Southern California and has written for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times; her work has been featured so many places, including The New York Times, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, NPR, and TIME magazine. Her purpose is to convey scientific insight on habit to the general public, and she’s here today to do just that.

Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick by Wendy Wood