Why Willpower Alone Won’t Break Habits or Addictions

Why Willpower Alone Won’t Break Habits or Addictions

What if the key to breaking a habit had nothing to do with self-control? What if your employees could experience real, lasting freedom from anxiety, compulsive behaviours, or negative thinking, without going to battle with themselves?

In this powerful conversation with Dr Amy Johnson, social psychologist and founder of The Little School of Big Change, we explore a radically different way of understanding the mind and overcoming deeply ingrained habits.

The Brain Is an Association Machine

Habits form when the brain links a behaviour to a feeling of relief. You feel anxious, so you have a drink. You feel stressed, you reach for a biscuit. You feel lonely, you scroll or shop online. The brain remembers the hit of dopamine and says, “That worked, let’s do it again.”

Over time, that pattern embeds. The body becomes the unconscious mind. And it starts running the show.

But here's the thing: your employees don’t need to understand the root cause of the habit to find freedom. They don’t need to dig through the past or rely on willpower. They need insight.

Insight Creates Change

When people start to understand what’s creating their experience in the moment, everything shifts. The feeling doesn’t seem so overwhelming. The urge loses its power. And this is where we go deeper than traditional employee support, like counselling or EAP systems.

We help people see how the mind works—how thoughts are transient, how feelings are safe to feel, and how wellbeing isn’t something you earn, it’s something you return to.

That’s why we bring this understanding into our employee wellbeing webinars and company wellbeing programmes. Because this isn’t just about breaking habits. It’s about realising how resilient, wise, and powerful your people already are.

Mindset Is the Missing Link in Employee Wellbeing

When you help your people raise their level of self-awareness and understand the nature of thought, you’re not just improving wellbeing—you’re creating a more grounded, focused, and engaged workforce.

If you're ready to transform your company’s approach to wellbeing, and you're tired of short-term fixes, let’s talk about what’s possible.

Ready to change your company’s wellbeing strategy from the inside out? Let’s talk about our company wellbeing programmes.