How did big tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter get us to use their products as automatic habits? This concept, known as captology (the study of “computers as persuasive technology,” or CAPT), is the area of expertise of Stanford University psychologist B.J. Fogg, who has been studying behavior change for more than two decades. Based on his findings in captology, Fogg says there are three main steps on the path to forming a new lifelong habit: Identifying your specific desired outcome, identify the easy-win behaviors or small adjustments that are easy to achieve, and finding a behavior that you already do regularly to which to attach your desired new behavior — setting up a Pavlovian conditioning situation of sorts. “‘After I finish brushing my teeth, I will floss one tooth,’” Fogg demonstrates in a program he has developed to help people achieve commonly held goals. “You can see where this is going. [Fogg’s program] works by designing out the need to feel highly motivated to get a task done. Motivational levels come and go with the wind, but flossing a single tooth is achievable no matter the emotional weather. Besides, most days you’ll find yourself flossing a few other teeth because – well, why not?”

Alternatively, you can read psychologist Elizabeth Lombardo’s recommendations of five ways to achieve the sustainable kind of change in your habits that won’t have you abandoning your new year’s resolutions before February rolls around.