How behavior change experts work on their own difficult habits

Kurt Nelson and Tim Houlihan are the co-hosts of the Behavioral Grooves podcast and heavy hitters in the behavioral sciences. In this episode, the three of us trade notes on what we’ve learned from years of podcasting and behavioral coaching and how it impacts our ability to work with our own behavior challenges. (Yup, we still have them!)

Key Takeaways

  • Curiosity allows for both open-mindedness and critical thinking.
  • Trusted sources are a valuable short-cut but can’t completely replace our own judgement. 
  • Building a bigger toolkit is great but you still need to know which tool to pick up
  • Life is a series of experiments with an awful lot of uncontrolled variables. 
  • The wonderful/awful thing about asking for feedback is that you might get it
  • Who do you want on your behavior change team?

Mentioned

Behavioral Grooves podcast

They thought we were ridiculous: The unlikely story of behavioral economics

Brain/Shift Journal

Nutrition GPA app

Change Academy #134: Why behavioral economics shouldn’t be the only tool in the toolbox

Change Academy #123: How to build the circle that supports your best work

Change Academy #50: Motivation and Accountability