The Lesson: Whether you’re breaking old habits or forming new ones, changing your behavior can seem like a daunting task – but there is a pretty simple formula for understanding how we can form (and change) our habits. In this particular talk, Brian Johnson details the three simple steps that you can use to break a bad habit. If you want to delve further and learn how you can use the three steps to build a good habit, you can visit Johnson’s website.

Notable Excerpt: “The three laws of breaking a bad habit: number one, make it invisible; number two, make it hard, rather than easy; and number three, make it terrible rather than awesome. So for our purposes, let’s assume that the habit you want to set is you want to use your phone less … first question, how do we make it invisible? Well, how about we set an alarm for when we want to put our phones away? Science says at least thirty minutes to an hour before our ideal bed time. Then when the alarm goes off, we shut down our phone and bury it in our closet … Second, how do we make it hard?”

The Speaker: Brian Johnson is a philosopher and founder of Optimize.me, a website, app, and free video series that help people to optimize their lives so they can be their best selves. He studies self-improvement books, then breaks them down into bite-sized chunks and “Philosopher‘s Notes” for busy people who want “more wisdom in less time”. He also offers Optimal Living classes and online training for your Hero’s Journey.

Podcast: Brian’s podcast, OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson, features the best big ideas from the best optimal living books. More wisdom in less time (between 4-19 minutes each) to help you live your greatest life. Subscribe: Stitcher — iTunes — Podbean.

(WATCH the inspiring talk below)

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