Habits are performed automatically, with little thought. The novel result is the independence of past behavior and conscious intentions to perform an act. In unstable contexts, habits had little effect on future acts. A behavior can t be performed automatically in unstable, unpredictable contexts. What people do tomorrow in terms of eating or exercise patterns may depend on what they ve done in the past if the context remains stable.
People get into a pattern of eating.
For some this may be while they re watching TV at night. Wood speculates that in order to change a repeated behavior, you can change either the situation or intention, but the latter must be strong enough to override the behavioral program in habits. For people who cannot or do not wish to wait until their lives change, Wood suggests ideas for altering situations where they can practice new behaviors of healthy eating and exercise. For example, try exercising at a time that does not conflict with other tasks. Also, stock a refrigerator at work with healthy foods such as apples instead of eating candy bars for snacks.