How to Build New Habits and KEEP Them! BJ Fogg & James Clear

Dave Asprey

Mar 5, 2025

Episode description

For years, we’ve been told that willpower and repetition are the keys to forming habits. But the truth is, habits don’t stick because of repetition—they stick because of emotion! 

In this all-time classic episode, Dave brings together two of the world’s top habit experts—BJ Fogg, PhD, and James Clear—to break down the real science of behavior change. BJ, the Stanford researcher behind Tiny Habits, explains why motivation, ability, and the right prompts are the real drivers of habits. Meanwhile, Atomic Habits author James Clear reveals how small decisions compound over time to shape your entire life. 



What You’ll Learn in This Episode: 

• Why willpower and repetition don’t work—and what actually makes habits stick 

• The tiny changes that create massive, lasting results 

• How emotions play a bigger role in habit formation than you think 

• The hidden power of stacking small habits for exponential growth 

• How to automate your decisions to free up brainpower for bigger goals 



SPONSORS 

-STEMREGEN | Head to https://www.stemregen.co/dave for 20% off your first order. 

-LMNT | Free LMNT Sample Pack with any drink mix purchase by going to https://drinklmnt.com/DAVE

 



Resources:  

Dave Asprey’s New Book - Heavily Meditated: https://daveasprey.com/heavily-meditated/ 

BJ Fogg’s Website –  https://www.bjfogg.com/ 

James Clear’s Website: https://jamesclear.com/ 

2025 Biohacking Conference: https://biohackingconference.com/2025 

Danger Coffee: https://dangercoffee.com 

Dave Asprey’s Website: https://daveasprey.com 

Dave Asprey’s Linktree: https://linktr.ee/daveasprey 

Upgrade Collective – Join The Human Upgrade Podcast Live: https://www.ourup

Episode description

For years, we’ve been told that willpower and repetition are the keys to forming habits. But the truth is, habits don’t stick because of repetition—they stick because of emotion! 

In this all-time classic episode, Dave brings together two of the world’s top habit experts—BJ Fogg, PhD, and James Clear—to break down the real science of behavior change. BJ, the Stanford researcher behind Tiny Habits, explains why motivation, ability, and the right prompts are the real drivers of habits. Meanwhile, Atomic Habits author James Clear reveals how small decisions compound over time to shape your entire life. 



What You’ll Learn in This Episode: 

• Why willpower and repetition don’t work—and what actually makes habits stick 

• The tiny changes that create massive, lasting results 

• How emotions play a bigger role in habit formation than you think 

• The hidden power of stacking small habits for exponential growth 

• How to automate your decisions to free up brainpower for bigger goals 



SPONSORS 

-STEMREGEN | Head to https://www.stemregen.co/dave for 20% off your first order. 

-LMNT | Free LMNT Sample Pack with any drink mix purchase by going to https://drinklmnt.com/DAVE

 



Resources:  

Dave Asprey’s New Book - Heavily Meditated: https://daveasprey.com/heavily-meditated/ 

BJ Fogg’s Website –  https://www.bjfogg.com/ 

James Clear’s Website: https://jamesclear.com/ 

2025 Biohacking Conference: https://biohackingconference.com/2025 

Danger Coffee: https://dangercoffee.com 

Dave Asprey’s Website: https://daveasprey.com 

Dave Asprey’s Linktree: https://linktr.ee/daveasprey 

Upgrade Collective – Join The Human Upgrade Podcast Live: https://www.ourup

Mindsip insights from this episode:

Celebrate to reinforce habit formation

You can hack your emotion to create a habit through a technique called celebration, which is anything you do that helps you feel immediately successful, like a fist pump.

Harness emotions to wire lasting habits

The thing that wires a habit in is not repetition, but the emotion you feel when you do the behavior.

Recognize aging as a pathway to overcoming addiction

As dopamine often declines with age, many addicts will age out of their addiction because they no longer experience the same intense wave of desire.

Utilize Stemregen to boost stem cell release for health benefits

The supplement Stemregen is a science-backed blend of plant extracts documented to help your body release millions of your own stem cells into circulation.

Trace behavioral chain to uncover root cause of problems

To solve a problem habit, walk back the behavioral chain to find the root cause, which is almost always upstream of the action you think is the problem.

Simplify habits by skill training, environmental tools, or scaling actions

To make a behavior easier, you have three options: train yourself to skill up, get tools to modify your environment, or scale back the action itself.

Establish new habits in fresh environments

It is easier to build a new habit in a new context or environment where you don't have a previous behavioral bias pulling you towards an old habit.

Cultivate 'Shine' to reinforce successful habits

The specific emotion of feeling successful, which helps wire in habits, is named 'Shine'.

Change habits by focusing on feeling good, not bad

If your past efforts to change didn't work, it's not your fault; you were likely using an old-fashioned approach, and the best way to change is by feeling good, not bad.

Avoid tracking to preserve joy in activities you love

Quantifying an activity you love, like tracking how far you surf, can take the fun and spiritual experience out of it.

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© Mindsip 2025 – Made with ❤ in Vilnius