This is Steva Robbins.

Welcome to the Get It Done Guy's quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Get It Done Guy listener Carmen writes in.

I'm a student on summer break.

I've been making good choices, ordering healthy food, devoting time to studying,

and taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

I have the willpower to make

these choices now, but will it last? How can I keep making good choices back at school when I'm

busy and stressed? Carmen, you've put your finger on the very crux of the paradox of human

existence. And I'll bet you thought you were asking a simple question. We love the idea of willpower, only it's vastly overrated.

Research into how people change shows that willpower is very rarely the key.

Developing new habits is the key.

Habits make us great.

We figure something out, make it a habit, and never think about it again.

It becomes a building block for new behaviors.

But our habit-forming ability isn't that smart. If we wear plaid pants with a fluorescent

paisley's shirt and the boy-girl or intersex we have a crush on compliments our outfit, quote,

unquote, our brain thinks, woo-hoo, pay dirt! form a new habit, and we never, ever wear tasteful clothes

again. But when we go on vacation, our habits can disappear as fast as a slice of Oreo

ice cream cake after a Tabata cardio workout. Get Fit Guy, you didn't hear that for me. So what's up with

that? Old behaviors never stop. When you first create a habit, you form the basic neural connections.

And if you try to change later, the old connections are still there.

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