When the Decision Makes Itself: How Small Interruptions Can Change What Happens Next
- Rachel Amies
- Jul 17
- 4 min read
In This Article
How one behaviour can nudge us towards the next
How familiar patterns can support our exercise routines, but also keep us stuck
Why what we eat earlier can shape our appetite and food choices later
Why familiar responses can start to feel like the only option
How changing an earlier part of the sequence can make the next decision easier
Thought For The Week
Earlier this week, a client told me their sugar intake had been creeping up.
"It's the weather. When it's this hot, it means ice creams and soft drinks."
I suggested keeping a bottle of sparkling water in the fridge, and serving it with lots of ice and slices of lemon or cucumber instead.
They genuinely hadn't thought of it.
The idea was hardly groundbreaking. It simply hadn't occurred to them because somewhere along the way, hot weather had become the cue for ice cream and soft drinks.
We all have these patterns.
We wake up and immediately pick up our phone.
We walk through the front door and head straight to the kitchen.
We sit down with a cup of tea and reach for something sweet.
It feels like a single decision.
But it isn't.
By the time our hand’s in the biscuit tin, several things have already lured us towards it.
We've finished work.
We've made a cup of tea.
We've sat in our usual chair.
The biscuit tin is within reach.
By then, the sequence is already well underway.
Our brains are designed to save effort, so familiar sequences soon become automatic. And the more we repeat them, the less they feel like choices at all.
It’s part of how habits form.
But it also gives us a clue about how habits can change.
We don't always need to fight the final behaviour. Sometimes it's more helpful to interrupt the sequence a bit earlier.
Stock the fridge with a different drink.
Put your phone in another room before bed.
Sit somewhere else.
Take a different route through the house.
None of these changes needs to be dramatic.
Sometimes, all it takes is a small interruption to remind us that the familiar response isn't the only one available.
Exercise Focus
Where do you stand when you go to an exercise class?
If you attend regularly, I suspect you have a spot.
Maybe it's near the back. Next to the wall. Somewhere you can see the instructor without feeling too exposed.
And if someone gets there first?
It feels strangely unsettling.
Familiar patterns aren't necessarily a bad thing.
Using the same space for your at-home workouts can make it easier to get started. Following a familiar warm-up can help you notice when something feels different. Walking the same route might mean you can head out without worrying about where you're going.
Some patterns support us.
Others can start to limit us.
We always stand at the back of the class because that's where we feel least visible.
We automatically pick up the lightest weights without stopping to consider whether we're ready for more.
We avoid the exercise we found difficult the first time.
We stick to the same route, even though we're bored of it.
The difference isn't whether a behaviour is repetitive.
It's whether that familiar pattern is doing us any favours.
So this week, pay attention to the parts of your exercise routine that happen almost automatically.
Keep the patterns that support you.
Notice the ones that may be keeping you stuck.
And perhaps interrupt one of those, just to see what happens next.
Nutrition Focus
What did you eat at 4pm?
Now think back a little further.
What did you have for lunch?
What about breakfast?
Or even dinner the night before?
We often focus on the moment a food choice happens. But our appetite, energy, and preferences don't reset every time we eat.
A later, heavier dinner might mean we're less hungry at breakfast.
A filling lunch might keep us satisfied well into the afternoon.
A rushed morning with very little to eat might help explain why we're riffling through the cupboards by 3pm.
What we’ve already eaten can also shape what we fancy next.
If we haven't had much carbohydrate, perhaps bread, pasta, or something sweet suddenly feels particularly appealing.
After a day of rich, heavy food, we might find ourselves craving something fresh.
If we've been particularly active, we may notice our appetite increase or feel drawn towards more energy-dense foods.
Our food choices don't happen in isolation. What came before usually influences how we feel and what we reach for later.
So, if there's a food choice you've been struggling with lately, try looking a little further back in the sequence.
What tends to happen before it?
Is there an earlier point where a small change might make the next decision easier?
The most useful place to change a behaviour isn't always where the behaviour happens.
Explore More
From the archive: Why We Stick to What We Know (Even When It’s Not Working) explores why familiar behaviours can feel easier to repeat, even when we know they're no longer helping us, and how familiarity itself can keep us returning to the same choices.
Book: In Good Habits, Bad Habits, psychologist Wendy Wood explores the science of habit formation, and how the contexts and cues around us can shape our behaviour with very little conscious thought.
Watch: In his TED Talk A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit, psychiatrist Judson Brewer explores the role of curiosity and awareness in stepping out of automatic patterns, rather than simply trying to exert more control.
Takeaway
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