Hey everyone, it's Dr. Maya Shankar, your guest host for the week. Welcome to Radiohead's

face and to Thursday. As a cognitive scientist, I've learned so much about the science of

human behavior and how hard it can be to change things for the better. So today we'll explore

how to make it easier to build new habits so we can achieve our long-term goals. One of my favorite

techniques for keeping good habits in place comes from a friend of mine, Katie Miltman. She coined

the term temptation bundling, which involves taking something that you don't really enjoy, but that

you know is good for you, and pairing it with something that you really love, and that brings you a

lot of joy. For me, I've used this to help stick with my fitness goals. One rule I made from

myself is that I will only listen to my favorite pop songs when I'm working out. So when I'm doing

strength training or when I'm on the elliptical, and I don't allow myself to listen to those songs in

any other moment in the day. And what I found is that there's a little part of my brain that actually

is coming to enjoy working out because I get to look forward to listening to my favorite Taylor

Swift songs or my other favorite artists. And so over time, working out has actually become more

enjoyable, and it's been something that I've really stuck with. So some examples that I've heard

from my friends about how they've used temptation bundling is to listen to their favorite podcasts

while they're folding laundry, or they call a friend that they love talking to while they're on

a walk. Or if they want to cook more, they make sure that they're playing their favorite TV show

in the background while they're chopping vegetables. Just ask yourself a question, what's something that I

really enjoy, that I get a lot of immediate rewards from, and try to pair that with a thing where

the rewards can feel a little bit less immediate, and you only get those benefits in the long run.

Another way to try and create good habits is to set goals. When you're in the same

physiological or psychological state, you'll be in when you plan to actually pursue those goals.

...