Julia Dhar

So where do they come from?

One of my favorite things about the work that I do is I spend a lot of time talking to people about changing.

So not just change, but how do I get better at changing?

And part of it is we're not totally sure psychologically about change.

People have really different reactions when you say, do you want to change?

If you say to someone, would you like to be better?

Almost everyone says, yeah, that's what I'm here to do.

I'm trying to be better.

So what's preventing us?

What's getting in the way of us actually being better?

There are basically three things, and they are environmental, tactical, and relational.

So an environmental cause of a bad habit might be something really basic, like I live very far away from a place where I could safely exercise.

I don't have good quality access to healthy food that's affordable.

A relational one might be I...

have a set of friends who, when I go out with them, the night kind of spins out of control.

Very good example of a relational one.

And a tactical one might be, I just haven't set myself up in quite the right way.

And so Katie Milkman at Wharton, the University of Pennsylvania, has a great set of research on how do we create the tactical relationship

conditions for us to be healthier, be better versions of ourselves.

And the most basic version of it is, do I put my gym shoes, do I put my trainers by the door before I go to bed at night?