In this podcast we chat with Steve Dunkley, about his experience of developing his own atomic habits for better wellbeing.

Guest background Had a love of understanding human behaviours since my university days (Studied Psychology at Manchester University 1983-86). Became interested in Sigmund Freud and over the years have retained an interest in Psychoanalysis (despite the fact that I don’t understand all of it – see Jacques Lacan!). My early working career as an ergonomist in the steel industry in the 1990’s introduced me to health and safety and I was perhaps naively always bemused by the number of serious injuries and fatalities that occurred at work – “how could this happen?”. At that time I became involved in a behavioural safety programme so that introduced me to a number of behaviour theories. I have also had an ongoing interest in the self-help/improvement world. As a teen I read “Awaken the giant within” by Tony Robbins but was guilty of not putting theory into practice! My interest was renewed boxing day 2022 when, after a heavy day of indulging and feeling generally chubby and unfit I started looking to the world of self-improvement again to get out of the rut I felt I was in. Searching through YouTube, Atomic habits was the first book summary I came across.

My safety career spanned about 10 years in heavy industry and I joined the University as an assistant safety adviser in 2003, moving into the role of University Safety Adviser in 2012.

The Academy’s Developing Practice Podcast is produced by The Academy, University of Liverpool. The role of the Academy is to promote and enable organisational excellence through the strategic development of the University’s people and practices. To find out more about the work of The Academy check out: ⁠⁠https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/the-academy/⁠⁠

Music & FX: This podcast uses sounds from ⁠⁠https://freesound.org/s/417560/⁠⁠ and music from ⁠⁠https://www.purple-planet.com

Recommended Reading:

• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change - https://amzn.eu/d/giHYg14
• Tiny habits,  BJ Fogg - https://tinyhabits.com/
• High performance by Jake Humphreys/Damian Hughes - https://www.thehighperformancepodcast.com/
• Atomic Habits, James Clear - https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits
• The 5am Club, Robin Sharma - https://amzn.eu/d/1PNORhM
• Be your Future Self Now, Benjamin Hardy - https://amzn.eu/d/03zihuk
• How to Fail Podcast, Elizabeth Day - https://www.elizabethday.org/how-to-fail-book