Paul Baxter: Why Bad Habits Keep Coming Back (And a Faster Way to Change Them)

Have you ever had the experience of fixing something in the practice room…only to have it come back in performance? Maybe it’s a passage where tension creeps back in. Or a section where your fingers revert to an old fingering. Or some aspect of your technique that you’ve worked hard to fix - until it shows up again at exactly the wrong moment. Why does this happen? In this month's episode, cognitive psychologist Paul Baxter explains why bad habits are so persistent, and shares a little-known research-based method that may help change stubborn habits more quickly - and permanently. Get all the nerdy details in this month's interview: Paul Baxter: Why Bad Habits Keep Coming Back (And a Faster Way to Change Them) Additional Resources The exact Old Way New Way protocol and examples across a wide range of performance domains can be found in Paul's book, Overcoming Performance Roadblocks More from The Bulletproof Musician Get the free weekly newsletter , for more nerdy details and bonus subscriber-only content. Pressure Proof : A free 7-day performance practice crash course that will help you shrink the gap between the practice room and the stage. Learning Lab : A continuing education community where musicians and learners are putting research into practice. Live and self-paced courses

You can listen to Paul Baxter: Why Bad Habits Keep Coming Back (And a Faster Way to Change Them) online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Paul Baxter: Why Bad Habits Keep Coming Back (And a Faster Way to Change Them) is an episode from The Bulletproof Musician by Noa Kageyama.

This episode is 35:10 long.

This episode was published on Apr 7, 2026.

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