Module 2 · How habits work · Supported by multiple studies

Context-dependent behaviour

Why habits are tied to places, times and people — and move poorly between them.

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

The problem it solves

Why does a habit that runs perfectly at home disappear on holiday?

The concept

Habits are tied to the context they were learned in: the place, the time, the people, the objects around you, even the action just before. When that context is present, the habit is pulled into action. When it’s missing, the pull weakens.

That’s why habits travel badly. A morning workout linked to your own bedroom, your alarm and your kit may have no cue at all in a hotel room.

It also means that the more consistent the context, the stronger the habit — and that you can deliberately choose contexts that exist in more places, like “after I wake up” rather than “in my home gym”.

Why it matters

Studies of people changing context — moving home, changing university — show old habits are disrupted when their cues disappear. Knowing this, you can plan for travel and change instead of being surprised by them.

Supported by multiple studies: Many studies, often pooled in reviews or meta-analyses, point the same way. It still works better for some people and situations than others.

See it happen

Mei always journals at her desk with a cup of tea. When she visits family for a week, she doesn’t write once.

The ordinary first approach

She lost her discipline while she was away.

With the idea

Her habit depended on the desk and the tea. She creates a portable cue — journaling right after her first drink of the day, wherever she is.

What changed

She moved the habit onto a cue that travels with her.

Easy to get wrong

• Expecting a habit to transfer automatically to a new place.
• Choosing cues that exist only in one room.
• Reading a disrupted habit during travel as a personal failure.

Try it now: Find the portable part of a cue

1. Pick one habit and list everything in its usual context.
2. Circle anything you’d also have while travelling or on an unusual day.
3. Choose that as a backup cue.

Apply it to one of your habits

For one of your habits, which part of its context would still exist on a trip or a strange day?

Reflect

• Which of your habits depend most on one particular place?

Go deeper — evidence & sources

• Wood, Tam & Witt (2005). Changing circumstances, disrupting habits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.6.918
• Neal, Wood & Quinn (2006). Habits—A Repeat Performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2006.00435.x
• Buyalskaya, Ho, Milkman, Li, Duckworth & Camerer (2023). What can machine learning teach us about habit formation? Evidence from exercise and hygiene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.2216115120