Module 3 · Build better habits · Research-supported

Adjust, don’t abandon

When it stops working, change the difficulty or the plan — not the whole idea.

6 min read · Level: Intermediate · Free — no account needed to read

The problem it solves

What should you do when a habit stops working?

The concept

Habits rarely work perfectly on the first design. When one stalls, the useful move is to adjust a part — the difficulty, the cue, the time, the reward — rather than abandon the whole idea.

Adjust difficulty in both directions: shrink it when life gets heavier, grow it when it feels too easy. Handle interruptions with a smaller version rather than a full stop. Review results regularly so you notice early.

Adapting instead of abandoning is what separates people who build lasting habits from people who keep starting over.

Why it matters

People who repeat the same failed approach tend to repeat the result, while reviewing progress and adjusting plans is associated with better goal attainment. Small, regular adjustments keep a habit alive.

Research-supported: Good studies support it, but there are fewer of them, the effects are modest, or they come from a narrow set of situations.

See it happen

Joy’s morning run has fallen apart since her work hours changed.

The ordinary first approach

Running just doesn’t fit her life any more, so she should drop it.

With the idea

She moves the run to her lunch break three days a week, and keeps a ten-minute morning walk on other days.

What changed

She changed the design to fit the new life, and kept the habit.

Easy to get wrong

• Treating a stalled habit as a failed one.
• Changing everything at once, so you can’t tell what helped.
• Only reviewing when something has already gone badly wrong.

Try it now: Change one variable

1. Pick a habit that isn’t working well.
2. Choose one thing to change: size, cue, time, place or reward.
3. Try the change for a week before judging it.

Apply it to one of your habits

For one of your habits, which single thing will you adjust, and for how long will you test it?

Reflect

• Which habit have you dropped that might have survived a small change?

Go deeper — evidence & sources

• Polivy & Herman (2002). If at first you don’t succeed: False hopes of self-change. American Psychologist. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.677
• Harkin, Webb, Chang, Prestwich, Conner, Kellar, Benn & Sheeran (2016). Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin. doi:10.1037/bul0000025
• Epton, Currie & Armitage (2017). Unique effects of setting goals on behavior change: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. doi:10.1037/ccp0000260