Featuring: Katie Faloon-Drew, MSc- Speaker | Coach | Habit Change Expert
Hosted by: Tina Wilston, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) & CRPO Supervisor
Why Do We Know What to Do, Yet Still Not Do It?
If you’ve ever wondered why you can plan the perfect routine but struggle to follow through, this episode will feel like a light turning on.
We sit down with Katie Faloon-Drew, a speaker, coach, and health-psychology professional who helps people understand how to work with their brains, not against them.
We’ve all been there.
You promise yourself you’ll go for a walk, prep lunches for the week, or finally get to bed on time… and then life happens. The motivation fades, and you’re left wondering: “Why do I know what to do, but still not do it?”
That question is at the heart of Episode 20 of The MindSpa Podcast, where host Tina Wilston speaks with Katie Faloon-Drew, MSc, a speaker, coach, and health-psychology professional who helps people turn intention into action.
With a master’s in health psychology and years working in both public health and coaching, Katie blends science-based habit change strategies with compassion and humor. Her approach is refreshingly real, because she knows that lasting change isn’t about willpower; it’s about understanding how the brain works. She explains how the brain’s two main priorities, safety and sameness—can quietly keep us stuck in procrastination, all-or-nothing thinking, and guilt spirals.
Why Change Feels So Hard
Katie’s path started with her own experience of managing anxiety through movement. After years in health policy, even helping shape Canada’s Food Guide, she realized that information alone doesn’t change behaviour.
“Most of us already know what we should be doing,” Katie says. “The hard part is making it stick.”
That’s because our brains are wired for safety and sameness. The same primitive mechanisms that once kept us alive in caves now resist anything that feels unfamiliar or uncomfortable. Even if a habit makes us miserable, it still feels safer to the brain than change does.
The Brain’s Comfort Trap
Our brain’s number-one job is to keep us alive — not necessarily happy. So when we try something new, the brain sounds the alarm:
“Danger, danger. Go back to what we know.”
That’s why even small lifestyle tweaks can feel exhausting. As Katie explains, “Your brain would rather stay in a comfortable hell than risk the unknown.”
Understanding this isn’t failure — it’s biology. Once we know that, we can stop waiting for motivation to appear and start designing habits that feel safe enough to repeat.
From Willpower to Brainpower
Katie rejects the idea that success depends on motivation. “If you’re waiting for motivation, you’ll be waiting forever,” she says.
Instead, she teaches people to create minimum-viable actions — small steps so simple they pass what she calls the giggle test:
If it feels laughably easy, it’s probably the right place to start.
That might mean putting on your running shoes and stepping outside, not committing to a full workout. Once your brain learns the new behavior is safe, the next step comes naturally.
This approach mirrors the science of neural pathways: each small, repeated action builds a new “trail” in the brain, gradually replacing old patterns of avoidance or self-criticism.
Plan A, Plan B, and Grace
Even when routines are strong, life happens. Illness, stress, or travel can easily derail consistency. Katie’s solution: always have a Plan B.
Plan A is the ideal version, say, walking three times a week.
Plan B is the realistic backup, maybe a five-minute stretch or taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
The point isn’t perfection; it’s continuity. When you keep showing up in some way, your brain stays in the same identity loop: “I’m someone who prioritizes my health.”
Identity-Based Habits Beat Outcome Goals
For many people, health goals revolve around outcomes — weight, appearance, performance. Katie helps clients reframe those into identity-based goals, focusing on who they’re becoming rather than what they’re chasing.
“If your goal is to lose weight, your brain doesn’t feel successful until you get there. But if your goal is to feel energetic and proud, you can achieve that every day.”
That identity shift reduces shame — a powerful saboteur of change — and builds confidence through consistent evidence that you are the kind of person who follows through.
The Science of Belief
Katie also dives into the reticular activating system, the brain’s internal filter that decides what we notice. If you constantly tell yourself you “have no willpower,” your brain will look for proof of that belief.
Reframing thoughts — and pairing them with action — rewires those neural filters.
Affirmations work best when they’re lived: saying “I take care of my body” while going for that short walk. Each repetition strengthens a new self-image built on evidence, not pressure.
Small Steps, Real Change
From reframing perfectionism to removing shame, Katie’s message is clear:
lasting change starts small.
She shared a story about a 70-year-old client who felt too anxious even to leave her house. Instead of forcing long walks, Katie helped her start with one tiny step: simply putting on her shoes and stepping onto the driveway. Within two months, that same client was walking 45 minutes a day — proof that confidence grows through experience, not intensity.
Listen to the Full Episode
🎧 Ep 20 – Rewiring Habits: How To Work With Your Brain, Not Against It