The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Moment 197: The 10-Minute Rule That Beats ANY Bad Habit & This Weird Trick Forms Good Habits Instantly! Professor Steve Peters & Nir Eyal
Fri, 24 Jan 2025
In this episode we discover the science behind habits, how they're formed, how they can be broken, and the fascinating role self-perception plays in the process. We explore the power of reframing uncomfortable tasks, how habits are influenced by our self-image, and why pushing yourself too hard can backfire. You'll also learn why willpower is a limited resource, how to use discomfort as a tool for growth, and why small, achievable goals are the key to lasting change. Professor Steve Peters Episode - https://bit.ly/4jqZSGK Nir Eyal's Episode - https://bit.ly/3WuY05U Follow Professor Steve Peters: Instagram - https://bit.ly/3D5YBBA Website - https://bit.ly/3iZtr84 Follow Nir Eyal: Twitter: https://bit.ly/3BJR9uv Instagram: https://bit.ly/43dDHuL Watch the Episodes On Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/%20TheDiaryOfACEO/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
There are three systems in your head, keeping it very simple. It's much more complex than that, but simplifying it. One of the systems will help you think very logically, and I call that the human system. It thinks logically, but it's very slow.
which means if you operate with a human, your body and your reflexes will slow down because you're analysing as you go along and it slows the system so you're more pensive. If he goes into the second system, which we'll probably come back to, the chimp system, this is a primitive system which thinks. It's more than just a reaction, an impulsive system. It thinks.
When it moves, it can move at speed. But it thinks emotionally. Finally, the third system is a computer. It just needs programming. The key to the computer, particularly in sport, is it moves so fast. It's approximately 20 times quicker than the human system to execute. And it's about four times quicker than the chimp system. Habits.
A lot of people are thinking about habits. It's January. I made a video on habits a couple of weeks ago today. In A Path Through the Jungle, you talk about how our habits are influenced by our self-image. That was a curious sentence to read and not something I'd heard before. What do you mean by that?
Okay, there's lots of ways we form habits, whether they're helpful or destructive. And I'm giving examples. So that's one you picked out. That's quite powerful if you grasp it. So, for example, I'll take the simple example, which I may have put in the book. I don't remember.
If I wrote down, I'd say to someone, do you see yourself as someone who is a tidy person who gets on with things immediately? Or do you see yourself as someone who procrastinates and is pretty untidy? I'm untidy. Right. So if you've got that self-image and you go home and your room is untidy, I'm being very black and white here, then there's no feelings at all because that's who you are.
You're untidy. It's true. So that you don't do anything. It's true. Whereas if you say, right, change your image and say, actually, my chin being untidy, I'm a tidy person. In some cases, you're now programming the computer. You now go home and say, wow, this isn't me. And that can change. So if your self-image is, I'm not my chimp, that's an untidy little beggar. I am actually a tidy person.
How do I change that self-image? Well, you've got to sit down and reflect on this. I mean, a lot of the things in the book I've done as a young doctor, when I became a psychiatrist, I decided I didn't want to be a psychiatrist who didn't actually manage themselves. And that's no detriment to psychs who struggle because it's not an easy career or any therapist. It's a tough career.
But I decided, look, I'm going to work on me because I can't keep doing this, which is where the chimp model came from. And it was one of my light bulb moments many, many years ago where I would be procrastinating. And then I suddenly thought, you know what? That isn't who I want to be. So I thought, that isn't me. I'm actually someone who gets on with things.
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