Why do you read 1000 things about change and never change?

Learning about improvement is very easy, but actually improving is really hard.

Most any change that requires a lot of consistent mental effort is going to fail because you spend most of the day on autopilot. Research found that more than 40 percent of actions people take every day are not really decisions, but habits.

Your context influences your decisions. If you make an effort to control your environment, you won't have to exert self-control.

If you don't have cookies in your house, you won't be able to eat cookies.

Make the things you want to do take 20 seconds less time to start and let the things you want to keep away from take 20 seconds longer to get going.

Surround yourself with people you want to emulate; this will make far less challenging to do the things you should be doing.

When you are around social groups where change seems possible, the potential for that change becomes greater.

If-then planning is a way of deciding beforehand how you will respond to a situation.

Deciding in advance when and where you will take specific actions to reach your goal can make you more likely to succeed.

The best techniques to change something remove the mental effort and can easily be used in a routine you already have.

1. Direct the rational mind by providing a clear direction. Resistance is often a lack of direction.
2. Motivate the emotional mind. Knowing something isn't enough to make you change. Break the change into smaller pieces so it's less daunting.
3. Shape the path. Tweak the environment. Build habits. When a behavior is habitual, it will not require so much effort.