About
Setting a goal or intention to create new habits is relatively easy, but the hard part is following through. There are thousands of books and articles dedicated to this topic – Atomic Habits, The Power of Habit, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to name a few.
Why then, is it such an elusive challenge to implement new habits? The problem is habits are not about knowing; they’re about doing.
The Habit Course was created to tackle this challenge by providing practical tools and resources that allow participants to design their own personal system for habit formation.
As change becomes the norm in the workplace and modern life, the ability to identify and adapt our behaviors is a critical skill. This course is also not just about habits, it’s a way to develop resiliency and gain additional bandwidth to focus on what really matters.
The Habit Course is also an opportunity to connect with others and practice new ways of collaborating and working together, including building deeper relationships through supporting each other with habit formation.
It’s not just practical, it’s also fun, meaningful and many people report feeling more energized and optimistic after taking the course.
It’s great for teams, organizations, universities, schools, or any group of people wanting to work on developing new habits together.
Host The Habit Course at your organization
A unique professional development opportunity that equips your people with practical skills and resources to develop new habits, fostering resilience, collaboration and personal growth.
- Five live classes delivered in-person or remote
- Highly engaging and interactive learning environment
- Decade long track record with thousands of participants from around the world
Trusted by Leading Organizations
Course Outline
The intention of the habit course is to empower participants to create new habits that allow them to achieve goals that matter to them. The course is built around the following five key elements:
- Theory: Participants are introduced to scientific developments in neuroscience and behavioral psychology. These are presented in a condensed and digestible way to maximize their direct application.
- Practice: Participants practice creating new habits of their choosing to integrate the principles of habit formation and behavior change.
- Community: This course happens inside of a community where participants are paired up with an accountability partner that they meet outside of the sessions on a weekly basis. This aspect is critical to the course since the social component of learning is often ignored in more traditional forms of education.
- Energy management: Creating new habits requires mental energy. Additionally, individuals often ignore the importance of managing their mental energy throughout the day (as a habit). A balanced and sustainable energy management practice is fundamental to shifting undesirable habits as well as creating new ones.
- Reflection: Participants are invited to regularly reflect on the course and their experience. Participants also practice new forms of guided reflection to provide them with deep insights about themselves. These insights are critical in shifting their perspectives to create new avenues for action.
The key topics for each week
Class 1
What is a habit?
Participants will discover how to apply a simple model for identifying and designing habits. They will clarify what they want to make progress on and design habits that are aligned.
Class 2
Why do we have habits?
Participants will apply practical insights from the science of habits and explore how it relates to managing energy.
Class 3
Mental Habits
Participants will identify mental blocks and distractions that get in the way of their desired habits and how to overcome them.
Class 4
Hidden aspects of habits
Participants will engage in activities to uncover blindspots, get unstuck and reframe their perspective on their habits.
Class 5
Creating a habit practice
Participants will explore how mindset affects habit formation, integrate key takeaways and craft a personal system for ongoing application based on the principles they learned in the course.
The Habit Course is most effective in-person.
The Habit Course can be delivered live online over Zoom.
How it works
Participant Experience
The course takes place over five classes with one class every two weeks for 90 minutes with a live instructor over Zoom or in-person. Each class is designed to be highly interactive and engaging. This course was designed by learning design experts, which keeps the learner at the centre of the experience.
Each participant will receive a workbook in which they complete exercises during class and use to reflect between classes. There are no pre-readings for classes. There are activities to complete between classes, which mostly revolve around practicing habits, reflection and meeting with an accountability partner.
The course is designed to be lightweight so it doesn’t feel like added work, and in fact, many people report feeling that they have less stress, more energy, and are more effective while taking the course.
The course can also be taken in a self-directed video format, but it’s recommended that you take it with a colleague or friend who can be your accountability partner.
What people are saying
Join a growing group of people
creating new habits
Interested in taking the course?
Let’s talk.
Are you trying to create a learning culture?
Do you want to improve communication, collaboration and connection in your team?
Do you want to support the wellbeing of your people?
You could hire an expert to give a keynote talk on the latest research for what makes great teams or how to improve emotional intelligence. If you get the sense this could be interesting, but it won’t have a lasting impact, I’d like to propose an alternative experiment – offer the The Habit Course to your people.
You don’t need a study to tell you that people perform better when they’re happy or that happiness at work comes down to positive relationships or that feeling seen, heard and recognized are fundamental aspects of positive relationships – it’s all self evident and it happens to be well researched. However, knowing these things is different than actually practicing them and most organizations struggle with it.
The Habit Course is a practical way to foster the kinds of relationships that make people happier, and perform better. It’s not necessarily why most people sign-up, but it’s what they often get through participating. They also learn practical skills to implement new habits that can support their productivity, wellbeing, and resilience at work.
If you’re curious to learn more about why this is, and how this can be facilitated for your team or organization, let’s talk.
Do you want your students to work on their habits?
Do you want to build self awareness and resilience in your students?
Students are fundamentally preparing for a period of change and transition to whatever is next in their lives, whether it be going to university, starting their first job, making a career change, or pursuing further education. This typically requires learning new habits and changing some existing habits.
The Habit Course can benefit students at any part of their journey as it gives them an opportunity to reflect and make progress on their habits while also learning practical skills they can take anywhere.
The Habit Course is also an antidote to many of the hyper competitive and comparative learning environments students find themselves in. Instead of feeling the need to perform out of fear and anxiety, students can feel safe and secure to explore their sincere curiosities and support each other in their learning.
Every student gets paired with an accountability partner where they get to practice working closely together on their individual and shared successes, including embracing failures with courage and kindness.
The course is also a lot of fun, you can expect laughter and lively conversations, and at times, even tears of relief and recognition. Students are invited to bring their full selves, but are not pressured to do or be anything other than themselves.
If you’re curious to learn more about how this course can serve your students, let’s talk.
Hi I’m Cole Nakatani
I spent more than a decade designing, refining and delivering the The Habit Course for thousands of participants from around the world at all stages of life – from university students to seasoned professionals, teenagers to seniors, entrepreneurs to people in recovery, and everyday humans like you and me.
I believe working on habits in community is one of the rare unifying ways that everyone can relate to and benefit from. To be human is to struggle at times with our habits, especially when we try to do it alone.
What I love most about this work has almost nothing to do with our individual habits, it’s the way this course brings people together, facilitates meaningful conversations, expands our self awareness, and reignites genuine curiosity and connection.
The secret sauce has less to do with me as the instructor, and more to do with the way the course is designed and the countless hours spent by the many people involved in it’s creation – David Kohler, Mark McCoy, Rosy Lee, Chloe Tarbot, Corey Leung, Sincere Cheong and Cobie Damsel.
This course was created in community, and continues to be about facilitating deeper connections with ourselves and each other. It’s also one of the most effective ways to create new habits, and you don’t need to imitate David Goggins or Tony Robbins or [insert your favourite self-help guru].
Frequently Asked Questions
This program can be offered in a self-directed format, but it’s the most effective when delivered live in-person or online. Please get in contact if you want to learn more about the self-directed format.
I have worked with groups ranging from intimate gatherings of just a few individuals to participants numbering over a thousand. I will work with you to customize the experience so it best suits your needs.
While most people hire me for the relevance of the material, what truly sets these programs apart is the immersive and transformative learning environment. Many training programs rely heavily on flashy slides and one-way information delivery (don’t worry, I have those too), but true learning and growth require much more. That’s why every session is rooted in the principles of experiential learning, fostering an atmosphere where participants feel deeply engaged, connected with their peers, and genuinely motivated to take meaningful action. Participants often leave not only with new concepts and skills but also with a memorable experience and a meaningful shift in their perspective—one that transforms their relationship to learning and growth itself.
Let’s work together.
If you’d like to learn more about The Habit Course and how we can work together, please get in touch.