How to Break Up with Your Bad Habits

Breaking bad habits often feels like a test of willpower. We tell ourselves we’ll stop scrolling, eat better, or exercise more — and then fall right back into the same routines. So why is lasting change so hard?
As part of our spring cleaning series, we’re revisiting a powerful episode from The Happiness Lab archives that reveals a surprising truth about behavior change: it’s not about willpower at all. Dr. Laurie Santos sits down with psychologist Wendy Wood (scholar.google.com/citations?user=ljLqYGEAAAAJ…) to explore what the science of habits really says about why we get stuck — and how we can finally change.
Along the way, we hear the remarkable story of American soldiers in Vietnam who abruptly overcame heroin addiction after returning home, offering a powerful clue about how habits really work. If you’re looking to break a bad habit or build a better one, this episode shows how small changes to your environment can make lasting change feel almost automatic.
Experts Mentioned:
• Wendy Wood (dornsife.usc.edu/wendy-wood), Provost Professor of Psychology and Business, University of Southern California.
• Dr. Richard Ratner (faculty.smhs.gwu.edu/richard-albert-ratner), Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Resources Mentioned:
• Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick (books.apple.com/us/book/good-habits-bad-habits…), by Wendy Wood (2019)
• “How Do People Adhere to Goals When Willpower Is Low? The Profits (and Pitfalls) of Strong Habits (psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-18890-001),” by David T. Neal, Wendy Wood, and Aimee Drolet (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2013)
• “The Pull of the Past: When Do Habits Persist Despite Conflict with Motives? (journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01461672…),” by David T. Neal, Wendy Wood, Mengju Wu, and David Kurlander (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2011)
• “Ironic Processes of Mental Control (dtg.sites.fas.harvard.edu/DANWEGNER/pub/Wegner…),” by Daniel M. Wegner (Psychological Review, 1994)
• “How Permanent Was Vietnam Drug Addiction? (ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH…),” by Lee N. Robins, Darlene H. Davis, and David N. Nurco (American Journal of Public Health, 1974)
• CBS News Lottery Draft 1969 (youtube.com/watch?v=-p5X1FjyD_g) (Archival Footage)
• "G.I. Heroin Addiction Epidemic in Vietnam" (timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/05/…) (The New York Times, 1971)
• G.I. Junkie (imdb.com/title/tt5860066) (Documentary, 1971)
Related Episodes:
• "A New Hope (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-new-hope/id147…)"
• "You Can Change (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-can-change/i…)"
• "Happiness Lessons of the Ancients: Sikhism and Daily Habits (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happiness-lesson…)"
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