Good Habits, Bad Habits
by Wendy Wood, PhD
Summary
Written by one of the leading academic researchers on habit formation, this book cuts through popular habit advice with what the actual peer-reviewed research shows — including some genuinely counterintuitive findings, like how much more context and environment matter compared to willpower. If you want the science without the oversimplification, this is the most rigorously research-backed option.
Who it's for
Readers who want habit-formation advice grounded strictly in academic research, including a critical look at popular claims (like the "21 days to form a habit" myth).
Key takeaways
- Why willpower is a far less reliable driver of habit change than context and environment
- A research-based debunking of popular habit myths, including unrealistic timelines for habit formation
- How to use "friction" — making bad habits harder and good habits easier — as a primary lever, backed by controlled studies
Wendy Wood has spent her academic career researching habits, and this book brings that rigor to a genre often dominated by anecdote — directly addressing which popular claims about habit formation actually hold up under controlled research and which don’t.
Its emphasis on environment and context over willpower is backed by her own studies, offering readers a more accurate, if sometimes less flattering, picture of what actually drives behavior change than more motivational habit books provide.
Available on Amazon
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