StretchLearn Course

Change your behaviour by design, not by willpower

Learn the science of how habits form, how to start tiny, and how to make new behaviours stick long after the motivation fades

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Beginner9 hrSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

Most people try to change behaviour with willpower and a burst of motivation, then quit within a few weeks when both run out. This course replaces that with the actual science: how the basal ganglia automates behaviour through a cue-routine-reward loop, why implementation intentions roughly double follow-through in controlled studies, and how to use habit stacking, environment design, and BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits method to make starting almost effortless. You finish able to design a specific small habit, anchor it to an existing routine, engineer your surroundings so the right behaviour is the easy one, break a stubborn habit by attacking its cue and reward, and recover from lapses without quitting, all captured in a personal change plan you build as you go.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Explain the cue-routine-reward habit loop and identify the four parts of any habit using James Clear's framework

Write implementation intentions and habit stacks that specify exactly when, where, and after what a new behaviour happens

Design a starter habit small enough to do reliably using BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits and the two-minute rule

Redesign your physical and digital environment so good behaviours need less friction and bad ones need more

Break an unwanted habit by isolating its cue and craving and substituting a new routine that delivers a similar reward

Build a relapse-resistant tracking and recovery system, including the never-miss-twice rule, to keep change going long-term

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: How Habits Actually Work

Understand what a habit really is in the brain, why willpower keeps failing you, and the loop that drives almost every behaviour you repeat without thinking.

3 lessons

The Habit Loop: Cue, Routine, RewardContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

Why Willpower Fails and Systems WinContent · 45 min

LMS Access

The Four Laws of Behaviour ChangeContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: Starting New Habits That Stick

Use the most reliable techniques in the research to begin a new behaviour: tiny starting steps, precise plans, and anchoring the habit to something you already do.

3 lessons

Start Tiny: The Two-Minute Rule and Tiny HabitsContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Implementation Intentions: When, Where, HowContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Habit Stacking: Anchor New to OldContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: Designing Your Environment for Change

Stop fighting your surroundings and start using them, by engineering your physical and digital environment so the right behaviours are easy and the wrong ones are hard.

3 lessons

Friction: Make Good Easy and Bad HardContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Environment and Cue DesignContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Identity and Social EnvironmentContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Breaking Bad Habits and Making Change Last

Turn the science around to dismantle unwanted habits at their source, recover from inevitable lapses, and keep new behaviours going for the long haul.

3 lessons

Breaking a Habit by Attacking Cue and RewardContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Tracking, Streaks, and Never Miss TwiceContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Lapses, Plateaus, and the Long GameContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

habit buildingbehaviour changeatomic habitstiny habitsimplementation intentionshabit stackingbreaking bad habitsself-discipline