Can we start by asking how did you get into researching habits and routines?

Well, I've always been, from the start of my career, interested in people's attitudes and why they behave as they do.

And in that time, the prevalent models in social psychology, and they still are actually prevalent models, are motivation-driven models.

So we do things because we want to reach a goal, and we develop attitudes that sort of summarize the kinds of evaluations we have about certain options that we can choose.

Now, that research was interesting, but at some point we, and because it was not only me, me and my colleagues, we realized that the drivers of behavior was very often not so much attitudes.

If you do things repeatedly, then your attitudes fade away, so to speak.

They're lurking in the background, and that's why we came to be focused on habits.

Do routines hinder creativity? Is it that simple?

Mm.

So the crucial thing is can you design an architecture where your habits are really flourishing, where you can do them effortless, where they serve you well, where things are right? One of the tools you can use is what social psychologists call implementation intentions, and implementation intentions are simply specific plans where, when, and what you will do.

So in terms of, let's say, losing weight, you can think of, "Okay, when I go to the supermarket, when I'm selecting my food, I'm going to look specifically each time the fat and sugar content." It's a very specific plan.

Then the moment you are facing the food shelf, automatically the implementation intention pops up because you have already planned the situation in which you have to act, and that is a sort of mental exercise.

Now, if you do that frequently, then those cues that are part of the implementation plan become the habit cues for your habits that are establishing.

And implementation intentions have been found extremely effective.

The best is even to write them down and to think very specifically, very strategically where and when you're going to do what.

But I was absolutely missing out.