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The Listening Ear Recommends
The Listening Ear Recommends is my way of sharing podcast episodes, and other audio content. That have helped me gain a better understanding of the influence of my lived experience. These episodes contain insight into how to adopt a new habit, or change an existing one, through consistency and repetition.
Podcast Episode
What I loved/learnt?
This podcast episode helped me to understand habits, and how to effectively form new ones, in completely new way.
I have been one of the people they discuss in the podcast. Who believes if I stay committed enough and have a strong enough will. I will be able to force a new habit to overwrite an existing one that no longer serves. I now know that is not an effective way to make consistent long term change. Will power is needed in the beginning to get the momentum started. But in order for the behaviour to be automatic it needs to not be thought about. If I want a new behaviour to stick, I need to make it as easy as possible to do it. Which means not constantly choosing between doing the new behaviour or the old behaviour. But having the new behaviour as the only option to choose.
Why listen?
Do you find it hard to get a new habit to stick, even when you know it will be better for you than your current habits?
This episode discusses how making lasting changes to our behaviour takes more than willpower alone.
Building on their definition of a habit as a response to a cue that happens without thinking about it. They discuss the ways to integrate a new habit into your routine as frictionlessly as possible. And subsequently how to increase the amount of friction – thought – around the behaviour you are wanting to change. So that it becomes harder to complete, and you become more aware of the cues for that behaviour.
Podcast Episode
What I loved/learnt?
Before listening to this podcast episode I hadn’t thought of rituals outside of a competitive sport context.
I swam competitively when I was younger. And had a specific routine – ritual – that I would do at the start of every race. It was just something I did, it got me in the mindset of being in a race. Reflecting on that now, after listening to this podcast episode. In some sense it was me trying to establish a sense of control over the outcome of the race. I believed if I did the ritual I would have a good race and if I didn’t I would have a bad race.
Why listen?
Do you want to feel less out of control when things feel unmanageable?
This episode discusses how rituals can help increase a sense of calm through challenging times.
They discuss how rituals help us establish a sense of agency, when things feel out of our control. Like a death of a loved one, loss of a job or a failed interview. The belief you have in the ritual working or not is not important. Or is it important for it to be done publicly. Simply completing an action in acknowledgement of a challenging circumstance is enough for it to feel more bearable.
podcast episode
What I loved/learnt?
I liked how they distinguished two common ways to approach change.
One way was described at the “fresh start effect”. Which is the process of making a change at a new chapter of life. In these instances there is a high level of momentum, and motivation. As making a change can feel like freeing yourself from old habits. And affirm a new identity to move forward with.
Fortunately, for most of us, new chapter of life changes don’t happen too often. So they also discussed strategies to adopt to help make smaller daily changes that can overtime being a big change to fruition.
Why listen?
If you are navigating an unexpected significant life change that has also inspired a significant personal change.
This podcast episode examines the differences between making a big personal change at the beginning of a new chapter in your life. And making small tweaks to daily behaviours, as a way to inspire change.
