• Daily Habits
  • Posts
  • Switching, Not Stopping: A Smarter Way to Change Habits

Switching, Not Stopping: A Smarter Way to Change Habits

Sometimes the easiest way to break a bad habit is to swap it with a better one.

Author

Selim Uysal
May 24, 2025

Hi friend,

We often think the only way to break a bad habit is to stop it entirely. But research suggests there’s a better approach: habit substitution/swapping.

In Good Habits, Bad Habits, Wendy Wood explains that trying to eliminate a habit without replacing it leaves a behavioral gap, and your brain doesn’t like gaps. It likes routines. That’s why replacing a habit is often more successful than trying to quit one cold turkey.

  • Instead of cutting out coffee completely, switch to decaf.

  • Instead of doom-scrolling at night, pick up a short book.

  • Instead of dairy milk, try soy or oat milk.

  • Instead of snacking on chips, keep fruit within reach.

These small swaps work because they satisfy the same cue and reward loop, just with a better routine in between.

As Wendy Wood puts it:

“You don’t break a habit by stopping. You break it by building a new habit that fills the same role.”

Wendy Wood, Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick

💬 Your Turn

What’s one habit you’ve successfully swapped or want to?

(Reply to this email or comment below, I’d be glad to hear!)

—

P.S

📬 Want to launch your own newsletter?


Take my free email course at StartYourNewsletter.today or start immediately with a free Beehiiv account!

—

Reply

or to participate.