Breaking Bad (Habits)

In 2020, the structure of our days was dismantled, disrupting our habits for better and worse. Genevieve Gannon investigates whether brain science can get us back on track.

- Genevieve Gannon

It’s almost 2am when the credits cut to the next episode of my TV show and even though I know I should go to bed, I’m being sucked into the story. I’m on my summer break, so I keep watching. My trip home for Christmas has been cancelled and I can feel myself slipping into the bad habits I developed during the first COVID-19 lockdown – the worst of which was late-night Netflix binges.

Like everyone else, the middle of 2020 destroyed the framework that kept my life upright and my days became a chaotic mess of neglected laundry and Chocolate Royals for dinner. But just as I’m settling in for the fifth episode of The Crown, I recall the powerful lessons I learnt last year about habit formation, and force myself to switch off the TV.

Six months ago, I contacted University of Southern California Professor Wendy Wood, who is widely regarded as the world’s leading authority on habit formation. I wanted to know how to stop my bad habits from taking over my life, while keeping the good habits that lockdown allowed me to cultivate. What she taught me was a revelation.

“You can make pretty much any behaviour more habitual, as long as you do it the same way each time. The things that get repeated over and over and get us a reward form into habit,” she told me. “It’s surprising how much we rely on that structure.”

Professor Wood has spent three decades studying the brain science behind habit formation and says 80 per cent of people misunderstand habits, which is why we so often fail when we try to change them. We believe we change our actions through willpower, but this is not only incorrect, it’s counterproductive.