5 Ways to Actually Make Your Habits Stick

Positive behavior change is one of the most persistent challenges of personal growth—and in How to Change, Katy Milkman draws from the latest research and presents a powerful strategy for creating lasting change. She argues that real behavior change comes from a deliberate, scientific understanding of how human nature gets in our way and how we can leverage it to our advantage.

Milkman, an economist and professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, explains how to tailor solutions to your specific challenges, subvert common human failings, and cement lasting change. In this guide, we’ll detail her evidence-based approach to behavioral change and discuss her “playbook” for overcoming human foibles ranging from a lack of self-confidence to forgetfulness and procrastination. In commentary, we’ll look at adjacent perspectives on behavioral change from books such as Atomic Habits, Nudge, Awaken the Giant Within, and Hooked.

In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg draws on extensive research to explore how habits develop into automatic behaviors that influence personal lives, businesses, and communities. He explains why unhealthy habits are notoriously difficult to break and provides a practical framework to help you understand and change any habit.

In this guide, we’ve restructured Duhigg’s key ideas to focus on how your habits form and what you can do to change them. We’ve also compared and contrasted each key concept with updated research on habit formation and expanded on Duhigg’s advice with actionable methods from other self-improvement authors and psychologists.

Do you struggle with bad habits? Do you try to create good habits that will bring positive changes to your life, but have trouble making them stick? In Atomic Habits, James Clear argues that adopting the right habits will drastically improve your life—but to do so, you must understand how habits work and how you can change yours.

In this guide, you’ll discover why habits matter and the three mindsets you can use to create them. You’ll then learn how habits form and the four keys to changing yours. Finally, you’ll learn how to continue improving habits you've implemented. Along the way, we’ll examine how other psychologists and experts approach habit formation, and we’ll explore how Clear’s theories either align with or differ from theirs.

At least 40% to 50% of the things you do and the decisions you make every day are driven by habit, according to experts like Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit) and James Clear (Atomic Habits). Thus, even small improvements in your habits can have a big impact on your productivity and quality of life. But how do you change them?

In Shortform’s Master Guide to changing habits, we’ve collected the best answers to this question from five best-selling authors and experts on the subject. You’ll learn what habits are, why they’re so hard to break, and how to identify the triggers and behaviors that keep you stuck in the same self-defeating patterns. Then, we’ll share evidence-based strategies and advice for creating a personalized plan, whether you’re looking to cultivate good habits, break bad ones, overhaul your life, or simply tweak the habits that make up your daily routine.

In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg draws on extensive research to explore how habits develop into automatic behaviors that influence personal lives, businesses, and communities. He explains why unhealthy habits are notoriously difficult to break and provides a practical framework to help you understand and change any habit.

In this guide, we’ve restructured Duhigg’s key ideas to focus on how your habits form and what you can do to change them. We’ve also compared and contrasted each key concept with updated research on habit formation and expanded on Duhigg’s advice with actionable methods from other self-improvement authors and psychologists.

Have you ever tried to introduce a new habit (or kick an old one) and flopped? In Tiny Habits, Stanford behavioral scientist BJ Fogg diagnoses why you failed and shows you how to succeed next time. The Tiny Habits method is judgment-free and science-based, and it has resulted in success for thousands of people around the world.

Find out why relying on motivation will get you nowhere, what you should do instead, and why you should celebrate in style after each tiny win. Tiny Habits will show you how flossing one tooth can lead to something great, one tiny step at a time.

In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg draws on extensive research to explore how habits develop into automatic behaviors that influence personal lives, businesses, and communities. He explains why unhealthy habits are notoriously difficult to break and provides a practical framework to help you understand and change any habit.

In this guide, we’ve restructured Duhigg’s key ideas to focus on how your habits form and what you can do to change them. We’ve also compared and contrasted each key concept with updated research on habit formation and expanded on Duhigg’s advice with actionable methods from other self-improvement authors and psychologists.

Modern society teaches us that we can accomplish anything through willpower and discipline—but what if that’s the wrong approach? In Willpower Doesn’t Work, psychologist and productivity coach Benjamin Hardy says we can’t just “will” our way to success. Instead, we need to carefully design our lives in ways that make reaching our goals inevitable, minimizing the need for willpower.

Our guide to Willpower Doesn’t Work will begin with a high-level overview of why willpower won’t allow you to reach your goals and Hardy’s proposed solution of designing your environment for success. From there, we’ll discuss how to optimize your working and resting environments, how to remove distractions that drain your willpower, and how to optimize your “mental environment” by adjusting your thoughts and habits.

Our commentary will explore the science behind Hardy’s principles. We’ll also compare and contrast Hardy’s ideas with some popular willpower-based self-help books, such as Grit and The 10X Rule. Finally, we’ll provide some actionable tips and tools to help you put Hardy’s advice into practice.

Do you struggle with bad habits? Do you try to create good habits that will bring positive changes to your life, but have trouble making them stick? In Atomic Habits, James Clear argues that adopting the right habits will drastically improve your life—but to do so, you must understand how habits work and how you can change yours.

In this guide, you’ll discover why habits matter and the three mindsets you can use to create them. You’ll then learn how habits form and the four keys to changing yours. Finally, you’ll learn how to continue improving habits you've implemented. Along the way, we’ll examine how other psychologists and experts approach habit formation, and we’ll explore how Clear’s theories either align with or differ from theirs.

Do you want to achieve greater personal and professional success? In Million Dollar Habits, entrepreneur and motivational speaker Brian Tracy outlines proven strategies and habits that can propel you toward your goals. Whether you're seeking financial independence, a more rewarding career, or a heightened sense of well-being, Tracy's insights offer a clear roadmap to amplify your influence and impact.

In this guide, we’ll explore how a positive mindset and self-concept promote success. We’ll also discuss the role of good habits in building a successful life. Finally, we’ll dive into Tracy’s specific advice for achieving financial and personal success. In our commentary, we’ll look at other perspectives on what it means to be successful and delve deeper into the psychology behind habits.

Have you struggled to maintain discipline in your daily routine? In The Science of Self-Discipline, Peter Hollins explains how to build sustainable discipline through science-based habits and strategies. Hollins argues that changing your habits takes far more than forcing yourself to perform a rigid routine—it requires a shift in your mindset, reasonable expectations, and a transformation of your external surroundings.

Hollins is a psychology researcher and the author of several self-improvement books. After experiencing the benefits of discipline during his own body transformation, he researched how to optimize discipline for every area of his life. In this guide, we’ll explain his science-based approach to discipline, as well as his internal and external strategies, which you can use to improve your daily habits and reach long-term goals. We’ll also compare his ideas to those in similar books, such as Discipline Equals Freedom, and add more tips to improve your discipline.

You have a unique talent you were born to master, but knowing how to reach your creative and professional goals is not always easy. In The 5 AM Club, Robin Sharma explains how to discover your inner genius and maximize your abilities by adopting an early morning routine that activates your creative and productive potential. Your daily “Victory Hour” will enable you to narrow down your goals and reach them like a master. With this powerful tool you can become influential in your field and create a lasting impact on the world.

The Miracle Morning presents best-selling author and speaker Hal Elrod’s antidote to living the kind of mediocre life that most people accept as normal. Elrod argues that everyone is capable of achieving their dreams in every area of life, including relationships, finances, career, health, spirituality, and happiness. The answer is committing yourself to personal development by getting up early and following a simple daily routine of silence, affirmation, visualization, exercise, reading, and writing, which can empower anyone to transform any area of life in a surprisingly short time.