Podcast: Why Your Brain Secretly Wants Bad Habits
The new science of habit change and solving addiction, with Ryan Soave.
Bad habits aren’t a problem. They’re a solution.
That might sound insane, but it’ll make sense by the end of today’s episode—and you’ll have a new way to look at change.
I recently saw the band Phish at the Las Vegas Sphere with my good friend, Ryan Soave. Picture two sober dudes inside a (literal) bubble filled with stoned hippies.
After the show, we headed into the studio for the first-ever in-person Two Percent podcast.
Ryan is one of the country’s leading therapists and addiction counselors. Over two decades and more than ten thousand clinical hours, he’s worked with people navigating trauma, addiction, and the bad habit patterns that quietly run their lives.
His approach weaves together modern neuroscience, body-based therapies, and ancient wisdom traditions—all built around one uncomfortable idea: most of us confuse discomfort with threat, and spend our lives reacting to things that aren’t actually dangerous.
Ryan started in addiction. He’s since broadened his work to high performers who’ve mastered success but can’t seem to master peace.
We covered a lot of ground: the counterintuitive science of addiction, paths to sobriety, why winning at life doesn’t automatically translate to enjoying it, how to identify what triggers a bad habit, breathwork, tactics for managing day-to-day stress, and how to have a genuinely good time without substances.
We also shared what we’ve learned on our paths to sobriety (me 11 years; Ryan 18 years).
See below for some of Ryan’s free online tools that kickstart habit change.
Watch the episode here
Listen to the episode
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Show notes
Ryan’s Website, which offers many free and highly useful tools.
Free course: Sign up for “How to Feel Bad (and Love Your Life)” at ryansoave.com
Book a one-on-one consultation: ryansoave.com
A few of my favorite videos from Ryan:
Audio from Phish’s live shows at the Sphere can be found here.
Have fun, don’t die, find a better solution,
-Michael
I’m on the sidelines as I watch a friend and former teammate throw away his life (I.e. marriage, 3 young children, health, etc) to alcohol. He went to rehab a year ago and was sober for 5-6 months. Around thanksgiving he went back to alcohol with a vengeance. Is there anything that your friends could have done for you when you were getting sober?