Making New Year’s resolutions is easier than sticking to them. We’ve all sat down on January 1st, determined to eat healthier or wake up earlier, only to break those promises by the end of the month.
But being able to develop and maintain good habits is crucial to living a healthy life. According to the World Health Organization, noncommunicable diseases are responsible for 74% of all deaths globally, with behavioral factors playing a significant role.
Behavioral experts say that one brain hack can help: preaching. Nir Eyal, a behavioral design expert and author of “Indistractable,” suggests using this tool to re-engineer your identity and become more consistent with good habits.
When you share your values and beliefs with others, you’re more likely to abide by them. This is because sharing your convictions reinforces your identity and makes it harder to change your mind. According to Eyal, consistency bias plays a role in this phenomenon, where we seek to be consistent with our past behavior to avoid looking like liars.
Social pressure also comes into play, as declaring something publicly can make you feel accountable to it based on social bonds. However, there’s an important caveat: being too aggressive or “jerky” about your habits can harm relationships and alienate others.
By preaching about your good habits in a non-aggressive way, you can tap into the power of social pressure and consistency bias to stick to what works for you.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/04/psychology-expert-this-brain-hack-can-help-maintain-new-habits.html