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Our brains feature a powerful habit-forming 
system.
Imagine having to make an informed decision 
about every single product you buy at the 
supermarket. Doing the groceries would take 
forever! That’s where habits come into the 
equation.
One section of our brain, the basal ganglia, is 
tasked with programming our repetitive 
behaviors so that we hardly think about them. 
Consider the programmed behavior of choosing 
an ice cream flavor. Even at a fancy gelato shop 
with so many tempting flavors, we often just 
choose something familiar, like vanilla.
Why? Well, thanks to our basal ganglia, it’s 
something we’re used to and thus something we 
automatically tend towards. The more we repeat 
a habit, the record of it in the basal ganglia 
becomes stronger and stronger.
For instance, after consistently repeating the 
action of turning on your computer and logging 
into your Facebook account right away, your 
brain will eventually just go on autopilot – that’s 
how we can end up on Facebook without even 
realizing it!
The basal ganglia is often so strong that it 
overpowers the part of our brain responsible for 
conscious, reasonable decision making: the 
prefrontal cortex. Unlike the basal ganglia, this 
part of our brain takes long-term consequences 
of actions, as well as abstract concepts like 
morality, into account.
But the prefrontal cortex has one major flaw: it 
gets tired fast.
Making the right decisions is in fact a huge 
energy drain. While we might find it easy enough 
to resist that tub of ice cream in the freezer for 
most hours of the day, chances are that your 
prefrontal cortex will give up once it’s gotten 
tired. At this point, your basal ganglia will take 
over and you’ll suddenly find yourself holding a 
big bowl of cookies and cream again!