How to Trick Your Brain Into Breaking Bad Habits

Did you make a New Year’s Resolution this year? Research shows that most people stop keeping up with these goals by February. Luckily, there are science-backed ways to break bad habits and form new healthy ones! » Subscribe to Seeker! » Watch more Elements! » Visit our shop at » Sign Up for Seeker’s Newsletter! One strategy for breaking a bad habit is to make it harder to do. Psychologists call this increasing friction. If you’re constantly checking your phone, turn it over so you can’t see the screen, or put it in another room where it takes effort to get. At the center of every habit is a neurological pattern with 3 parts. First there’s a cue, or trigger, that tells your brain to go into auto-mode. Then there’s the behavior, which is what we normally think of as the habit. The third step is the reward. Rewards cause your brain to rele