Russell A. Poldrack

Of people who try to stop smoking, the data show that after a year, only about a third of them have succeeded in not smoking for a year. And so that's that's incredibly hard. I don't know what the numbers are on people who decide they want to start exercising. They're probably not much better.

But I think that, you know, the the reason that that bad habits are so hard to break in part has depending on the bad habit, if you're talking about things like like addictions.

But I think that, you know, the the reason that that bad habits are so hard to break in part has depending on the bad habit, if you're talking about things like like addictions.

But I think that, you know, the the reason that that bad habits are so hard to break in part has depending on the bad habit, if you're talking about things like like addictions.

you know has to do with the fact that we have like our bodies have these kind of physiological reactions that go along with the kind of you know the mental stuff that that happens in a habit whereas you know we're mostly not having cravings to you know floss our teeth or go to the gym or anything like that and and we also we don't get a physiological rush out of those things

you know has to do with the fact that we have like our bodies have these kind of physiological reactions that go along with the kind of you know the mental stuff that that happens in a habit whereas you know we're mostly not having cravings to you know floss our teeth or go to the gym or anything like that and and we also we don't get a physiological rush out of those things

you know has to do with the fact that we have like our bodies have these kind of physiological reactions that go along with the kind of you know the mental stuff that that happens in a habit whereas you know we're mostly not having cravings to you know floss our teeth or go to the gym or anything like that and and we also we don't get a physiological rush out of those things

So in general, I think that there's some bad habits that aren't that hard to break. I used to bite my fingernails, and I was able to stop doing that after my wife pointed out what I was probably ingesting when I was biting them. But it must have taken me at least a couple of months where...

So in general, I think that there's some bad habits that aren't that hard to break. I used to bite my fingernails, and I was able to stop doing that after my wife pointed out what I was probably ingesting when I was biting them. But it must have taken me at least a couple of months where...

So in general, I think that there's some bad habits that aren't that hard to break. I used to bite my fingernails, and I was able to stop doing that after my wife pointed out what I was probably ingesting when I was biting them. But it must have taken me at least a couple of months where...

Part of breaking a habit is just realizing when the habit is happening and what are the things that drive you to do it and then figuring out strategies to get around that. And that's a lot easier for habits like fingernail biting than it is for things like ingesting substances or food or things like that.

Part of breaking a habit is just realizing when the habit is happening and what are the things that drive you to do it and then figuring out strategies to get around that. And that's a lot easier for habits like fingernail biting than it is for things like ingesting substances or food or things like that.

Part of breaking a habit is just realizing when the habit is happening and what are the things that drive you to do it and then figuring out strategies to get around that. And that's a lot easier for habits like fingernail biting than it is for things like ingesting substances or food or things like that.

I think that's definitely one of the important ingredients. Because one of the things we know is that once a habit gets triggered, it's really hard to kind of stop oneself. And so a much more effective way to prevent oneself from... engaging in the habit is just avoiding the trigger. So if you're a smoker, a well known trigger of smoking is walking into a bar, right?

I think that's definitely one of the important ingredients. Because one of the things we know is that once a habit gets triggered, it's really hard to kind of stop oneself. And so a much more effective way to prevent oneself from... engaging in the habit is just avoiding the trigger. So if you're a smoker, a well known trigger of smoking is walking into a bar, right?

I think that's definitely one of the important ingredients. Because one of the things we know is that once a habit gets triggered, it's really hard to kind of stop oneself. And so a much more effective way to prevent oneself from... engaging in the habit is just avoiding the trigger. So if you're a smoker, a well known trigger of smoking is walking into a bar, right?

You smell smoke, you have a drink, and that often will drive people to smoke. Avoiding the bar is a pretty good way to do that. Not everybody can avoid the triggers of their bad habits. And then you have to think about how can I not engage in the habit even when the triggers are there?

You smell smoke, you have a drink, and that often will drive people to smoke. Avoiding the bar is a pretty good way to do that. Not everybody can avoid the triggers of their bad habits. And then you have to think about how can I not engage in the habit even when the triggers are there?

You smell smoke, you have a drink, and that often will drive people to smoke. Avoiding the bar is a pretty good way to do that. Not everybody can avoid the triggers of their bad habits. And then you have to think about how can I not engage in the habit even when the triggers are there?

One of the techniques that comes from psychology that seems to be useful, there's evidence of this working, is it's called an implementation intention. And the idea is basically that you kind of role play in your mind how you're going to behave. So you'll say you don't want to smoke and you have a friend who you always smoke with.