Habit technique · Environment & friction · Part of your days
Steer around high-risk moments
Where it’s sensible, avoid the situations where the unwanted habit almost always happens.
Level: Beginner · Free — no account needed to read
Where it’s sensible, steer around the situations in which an unwanted habit almost always happens — for a while, or for good.
Why it may help
If a situation reliably triggers the habit, not entering it removes the trigger entirely.
When to use it
- Early in changing a strong habit
- When one place or setting is the main trigger
- During stressful periods
How to apply it
- Name the highest-risk situations.
- Decide which you can reasonably avoid for now.
- Plan an alternative route, time or place.
- Revisit once the new pattern is steady.
An example
Taking a route home that skipped the bakery helped Leo stop buying pastries daily.
The common mistake
Avoiding so many situations that life shrinks.
Practise it
Name one high-risk situation and one way around it.
What the evidence says
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.
Avoiding or reducing exposure to cues is a recognised technique; it’s most useful early on and alongside building new responses.
Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy (v1) codes: 12.3.
Sources
- Michie, Richardson, Johnston, Abraham, Francis, Hardeman and colleagues (2013). The Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy (v1) of 93 Hierarchically Clustered Techniques. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. doi:10.1007/s12160-013-9486-6
- Duckworth, Gendler & Gross (2016). Situational Strategies for Self-Control. Perspectives on Psychological Science. doi:10.1177/1745691615623247
Problems it helps with
- “I can’t stop an unwanted habit.” — You’ve decided to stop, and it still happens — often before you’ve even noticed.
- “I slip when I’m stressed or tired.” — On good days it’s fine. On hard days the good habit disappears or an old one comes back.
Lessons behind it
- Remove or reduce the cue — Change what you see, where you go and what’s within reach. (6 min · Beginner)
- Find the triggers — The times, places, feelings and people that set the habit off. (6 min · Beginner)