Drill sergeant. Workout buddy. Cheat day. We all have reasons to go to the gym, but what does it take to make it as automatic as brushing your teeth?
On the heels of her best-selling book “Grit,” (Scribner, 2016) you might expect Angela Duckworth, MacArthur “genius” grant winner, founder of Character Lab, researcher and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania to say that perseverance is all you need to form good habits. But Duckworth and Wharton School professor Katherine Milkman understand that we actually know less than we should about why people intend to make positive changes and fail to turn actions—from saving for retirement to taking life-saving medication to exercising regularly—into habit. That’s why they’ve teamed up with 24 Hour Fitness to offer the StepUp Program – a free, non-profit, 28-day online program that only takes a few minutes of commitment each week and is built by scientists to test the best ways to help you kick-start an exercise habit.