In the 19th century, there used to be a model of how to be a good person. There were floods of passion flowing through you. Your job, as captain of your soul, was to erect a dam to say no to laziness and greed.

These days that model is out of fashion. Knowing what to do is not the same as being able to do it. your will power is no longer like a dam.

The 19th-century character model was based on an understanding of free will Today, we know that free will is bounded. People can change their lives, but ordering change is not simple because many things are beyond our direct control.

Much of our behavior, for example, is guided by unconscious habits. Researchers at Duke University calculated that more than 40 percent of the actions we take are governed by habits, not actual decisions. Researchers have also come to understand the structure of habits- cue, routine and reward.

You can change your own personal habits. If you leave running shorts on the floor at night, that’ll be a cue to go running in the morning. Don’t try to ignore your afternoon snack craving. Every time you feel the cue for a snack, insert another routine. Take a walk. Their research thus implies a different character model, which is supposed to handle the neural networks inside.

To be an effective person, under this model, you are supposed to coolly examine your own unconscious habits. You are supposed to devise strategies to alter the cues and his is a bit disturbing, because the important habitual neural networks are not formed by mere routine, nor can they be reversed by clever cues. They are burned in by emotion and strengthened by strong yearnings.

If you want to change your life, don't just look for a clever cue. Commit yourself to some larger global belief.