How Much of Your Life Is Running on Autopilot?

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Health, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Recent research found that about 90% of your daily actions happen automatically, without conscious thought
Two-thirds of behaviors are triggered by cues in your environment, meaning your surroundings silently direct most of what you do each day
Nearly half of daily actions align with your goals, showing that your brain's autopilot can actually support healthy habits when used intentionally
Building new habits takes consistent repetition, with research showing it typically takes between two and six months for a behavior to become automatic
Restructuring your environment, anchoring new behaviors to existing routines, and tracking progress will help reprogram your brain's autopilot to work in your favor

Transcript

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0:00.0	What if nine out of ten things you did today weren't deliberate choices, but automatic patterns triggered by the room you're in, the time on the clock, or the buzz of your phone?
0:10.0	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. No reading required.
0:20.0	Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the you're on the go. No reading required. Subscribe for free at
0:21.1	mercola.com for the latest health insights. Hello, and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular
0:27.1	wisdom. I'm Ethan Foster, and we're examining the science showing how much of your day runs on
0:32.5	autopilot, and how you can redirect that system to work for you instead of against you.
0:37.5	I'm a Lara Sky. This conversation centers on recent research finding that roughly 90% of your
0:43.5	daily actions happen automatically, with two-thirds triggered by environmental cues. Nearly half of those
0:50.6	actions still support your goals, which means your brain's autopilot isn't the enemy.
0:55.5	It's a tool you can train.
0:57.3	The study we're drawing from used ecological momentary assessment, check-ins delivered
1:01.9	at random times across a week to capture what people were doing in the moment, and whether
1:06.7	it felt habitual or intentional.
1:09.5	105 adults in the UK and Australia reported activities
1:13.5	spanning work or school, child care, and household tasks, screen time, eating and drinking,
1:20.2	relaxing, transport, exercise, social and community roles, hobbies, and personal care.
1:26.9	Across those categories, the researchers distinguished between two patterns that matter for you.
1:33.3	Habitual instigation and habitual execution.
1:37.7	Habitual instigation means a cue sparks the urge to act, like glancing at your phone because it buzzed.
1:44.4	Habitual execution means the behavior itself unfolds without conscious effort,
1:49.0	like brushing your teeth the same way every night.
1:52.1	The numbers were striking.
	...

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