2023 – It’s time to build some new habits

Crawford Hollingworth, Liz Barker and Katinka Duewel

In this article the authors draw on behavioural science to shed some light on why New Year’s resolutions often fail so quickly and share research on how to better implement a new habit.

The new year is inevitably accompanied by the desire or motivation to cease or initiate certain behaviours. But we all know how quickly good intentions can fall by the wayside. Behavioural science (BeSci) tells us that one key reason we fail is because we don’t take context into account – the circumstances and setting in which our behaviour occurs and the types of cues and reminders we use to prompt us to enact a behaviour.

The science of habits

It’s well established that building cues – background reminders in your surroundings which automatically make you think ‘Aah, I need to...

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