You know what to do and do not do it
Knowledge has not changed the routine.
Courses
See what you would learn
Understand how habits form and why they are so hard to change.
A course on the psychology of habit. It covers cues, rewards and context, why willpower loses to routine, and how to examine the habits in your own life using the real science rather than the slogans.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.
Type this when Cadence asks what you want to learn
I want to understand how habits form and why changing them can be difficult. Explain cues, rewards, and context using everyday examples I can examine in my own life.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
- Best for
- Psychology
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons, sized to your goal
- Lesson pace
- About 10 minutes a day
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store, with early features and Android testing access
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- Is there a habit you want to understand: one you want to build, one you want to break, or the general mechanism?
- Have you read about habits before, and what did not add up?
- Where do your habits run you most: mornings, evenings, work, phone?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
The habit books left gaps
Cue, routine, reward sounded neat and did not explain your case.
Some habits changed easily and others never
You would like to know why.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06What a habit is
Automatic behaviour, context and the shift from decision to routine.
Cues and context
Why habits live in places and times, and what changing them does.
Rewards, real and assumed
What actually reinforces a habit, which is often not what you think.
Why willpower loses
Automaticity versus intention, and why knowing does not help.
Changing a habit
What the research supports: context change, substitution, friction and time.
Your own habits, examined
Mapping a few of yours to see the mechanism at work.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Explain the mechanism
Describe how a habit forms, runs and resists change.
See your own habits accurately
Identify the cues and rewards behind behaviours you do not decide to do.
Judge habit advice
Tell which strategies have support and which are folklore.
Ideas this course corrects
Bad habits are a failure of willpower
They are a success of automaticity. Willpower was never in the loop.
It takes 21 days to form a habit
It takes anywhere from a few weeks to many months, depending on the behaviour and the context.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
A course on the psychology of habit. It covers cues, rewards and context, why willpower loses to routine, and how to examine the habits in your own life using the real science rather than the slogans. It sits under Psychology in the Ideas & discovery part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Courses run 7 to 30 lessons of about 10 minutes, sized to what you asked for. One lesson a day is the intended pace, and you can go faster. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
The sentence to type
I want to understand how habits form and why changing them can be difficult. Explain cues, rewards, and context using everyday examples I can examine in my own life.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.