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At the start of a new year, we often resolve to start afresh and create a resolution. We're hoping for a better habit, better choices. I have done it every year myself. Big ones. Aspirational ones.
But we also know that often, this motivation to stick to our resolution does not last. We quickly get buried in the mundanity of everyday life. I have also been there myself—every year. Yet despite all this, there is one mindset shift, one choice you can make, that can help achieve these goals.
To understand the change you need to make, first let's dive into two amazing characteristics of the brain.
First, it is wired to conserve energy. When the brain detects repetition, it builds automated shortcut circuits—habits—that allow us to act with minimal effort or conscious thought.
Once a habit forms, it is stored in a more automatic part of the brain. A simple trigger can then launch an entire behavioral sequence with very little energy—much like clicking a shortcut on a computer. This is not a flaw. It is an extraordinary efficiency feature.
The second mode is the brain’s system for novelty, adaptability, and learning. The human brain loves what is new. Novel experiences activate dopamine, drive attention, and enable neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to change, learn, and grow. Over time, these new circuits can become automated, completing the cycle mentioned above.
Put another way: The brain lives in constant tension between two needs—the need for efficiency, and the need for growth. The challenge is not choosing one over the other. It is knowing when to let automaticity take over and when to slow down and choose deliberately. As William James wrote in 1890:
“The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work.”
How to Automate Your Healthy Habits
In today’s world of endless options, we need automatic systems more than ever. The “paradox of choice” teaches us that too many options can lead to decision paralysis. Offloading routine decisions to habit is not a failure of willpower—it is a survival strategy.
For many small decisions—getting out of bed, brushing your teeth, driving to work—it makes sense to rely on habit. Better yet, intentionally build good habits: Schedule exercise so you don’t have to debate it, plan healthy meals in advance so the decision is already made.
This is exactly what elite performers do. Elite athletes are not consciously thinking through every movement. They’re trusting thousands of hours of training. Automaticity is not the enemy of excellence—it is its foundation.
In The Inner Game of Tennis, coach W. Timothy Gallwey makes this distinction clear: Practice requires analysis and correction; performance requires letting go. Trust the training. Let yourself play.
As a tennis player, I was initially skeptical. If you’ve built bad habits and forms, I reasoned, you have to keep talking to yourself to correct them (don’t bend the elbow, cover the racket on take back, and so on).
But that’s precisely the point. The most important choices aren’t made on game day. They’re made during the quiet, unglamorous hours of practice. Repetition shapes who you become.
When Automaticity Fails
Yet automaticity is not always the answer. At times, it is essential to slow down and reflect.
By definition, a habit runs automatically—regardless of reward, regardless of whether it still aligns with your values or goals. Sometimes we need to ask: Is this actually the best option? Or am I doing it simply because I always have?
Another similar question to consider: Is this merely the first idea that came to mind?
The Einstellung effect warns us that a familiar solution can blind us to a better one. Research on choice architecture shows that we are biased toward the first option presented, even when alternatives may be superior. These are moments when deliberate thinking and reflection, supported by the neocortex, matter most.
Socrates famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” While he meant this philosophically, neuroscience offers a complementary insight: Many of our choices are shaped by invisible patterns. Reflection allows us to see them—and, when necessary, change them.
The One Choice That Matters
If there is one resolution worth making this year, it’s not about doing more or becoming someone new. You don’t need to examine everything. You don’t need to overhaul your life. The only real choice you have to make this year is this:
What will you leave to auto-pilot—and what will you choose to do intentionally and deliberately?
Make that choice wisely.
References
Schwartz, B. (2004). The paradox of choice: Why more is less. HarperCollins Publishers.
Gallwey, W. Timothy. (1974). The inner game of tennis. New York :Random House,
Kahneman, Daniel, 1934-2024, author. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York :Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. 1). Henry Holt and Company.
Psych. Today
