Real Simple Finding Good Habits

“WE ARE WHAT WE REPEATEDLY DO. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit,” wrote philosopher William Durant in 1926, summarizing Aristotle. If our lives are a rich tapestry of all the actions we’ve ever taken, our habits create the most vivid and consistent threads—nail-biting and couch snacking and alarm-snoozing, sure, but also weekly phone calls with your sister and taco Tuesdays with the kids, your nighttime reading routine and long weekend runs. About 43 percent of our daily behaviors are controlled by habit, says Wendy Wood, PhD, a professor of psychology and business at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the author of Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick. “We don’t even notice our good habits most of the…

AFTER DINNER every night, Audrey Slater has a little ritual. She kicks her husband and teen daughter out of the kitchen and listens to podcasts while she cleans up. “Here’s the Thing, Pod Save America, and The Axe Files are some of my favorites,” says Slater, who lives in Madison, Connecticut, and is a wardrobe stylist at Live with Kelly and Ryan. “It’s amazing. I now actually look forward to doing the dishes.” I also do a little something that has made a world of difference in my day. It’s nothing profound or spiritual, but it is plenty satisfying. During the four dead minutes while I wait for my oatmeal to cook, I quickly unload the dishwasher. Boom, done. One task eliminated before I’ve even had breakfast. As it turns…

YOU SNEAK A PEEK at your Fitbit stats every 10 seconds. You look for suspicious moles after every shower. But when was the last time you checked in with your emotions? Last month? Last year? Five years ago? Big life events, like layoffs, divorces, and deaths, can inspire you to evaluate your headspace because you know you should “feel the feelings” before moving on. But habitually getting in touch with your emotions—rather than burying them or willing them to change—can help you assess your mental state and improve overall well-being. There’s no better time to start than the present: Keep reading to learn the whys and hows of the self check-in. What your emotions can do for you Regularly pausing to acknowledge the full spectrum of your feelings has a…

ON ANY GIVEN DAY, you probably have twice as many excuses for not working out as you have jog bras in your dresser drawer. “I want to linger in my warm bed a little longer.” “I have a big report due to the boss today.” “I’m feeling sluggish after last night’s cocktails.” Got a few more you’d like to add? The struggle is real, agrees fitness trainer Kayla Itsines, the creator of the BBG high-intensity circuit workout program, which is why she believes that in order to stick with exercise, you need to make it a habit instead of relying on motivation. The distinction, as Itsines sees it, is that motivation changes over time, but a habit will never let you down. “Habits help you push forward even when you…

1 Having Subscription Apathy That free wellness-coach trial you signed up for (and forgot to cancel). The credit-monitoring service you keep meaning to ditch. The gym membership gathering dust. That monthly beauty box you’re no longer into. Sure, no single subscription or membership is going to break your monthly budget, but in sum those commitments can quickly hit triple digits each month. These “gray charges” (as they’re known in the industry) may collectively be costing us $14 billion a year. “Companies know how to bank on people’s apathy,” says Emily Guy Birken, a personal finance expert and the author of End Financial Stress Now. You can zap those recurring charges by periodically reviewing your financial statements or outsourcing the task to a free, AI-powered app, like Trim or Truebill. Both securely…

CAN HAPPINESS be taught? If you ask Laurie Santos, PhD, a professor of psychology at Yale University and the host of The Happiness Lab podcast, the answer is a resounding yes. Since 2018 she’s been teaching the most popular course in the university’s history, called Psychology and the Good Life, which digs deep into the science of happiness, including the kinds of misconceptions that we have about happiness and tips that you can utilize to increase your well-being, she explains. With class enrollment surpassing 1,000 students in its first semester, Santos realized that her message’s impact could stretch far beyond the student body, so she recently launched a companion version online for free called the Science of Well-Being. To hear Santos tell it, there is a strong link between habits…