Installing a new habit and breaking an old one - Part 2

By Stephanie Burns

Strategies for Motivating Yourself to Do a New Action

• ask a friend to come by every day to do it with you;
• promise yourself a reward for each action;
• find someone you wouldn't want to disappoint and make a promise to them;
• think hard about how bad you will feel if you don't do it;
• remember why the habit is important - what's the long-term benefit;
• make it hard to not do - set up obstacles and barriers so it is almost impossible to not do;
• block your on-going movement;
• make it easy to do - put it in your path;
• delay the decision to not act - tell yourself to just start and then decide if you want to continue;
• to break a habit make it hard to do;
• remember to pat yourself on the back for every success in the right direction no matter how small; . notice and acknowledge what is working;
• spend the time you would normally spend beating yourself up for not doing something more constructively - use it to do what you should be doing;
• look for the smallest of improvements in your actions;
• one less is one less, one minute more is one minute more;
• celebrate all successful behaviours no matter how small the change;
• it is all in the right direction and changing behaviour is hard;
• acknowledge what you have done;
• don't worry about looking silly
• None of the people who care about how you look are going to be important to you in the future. Don't make decisions that relate to or are dependent on the thoughts of others. Most people don't care or are, in fact, inspired by your actions; and
• DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO DO THE TASK FOR THE FIRST FEW WEEKS. This is NOT EASY, but the reward is worth it. In a few weeks you'll be doing it WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT IT. It is just something you do like feeding the dog.

Strategies in Action - Here's How it Works

You want to start carrying a bit of cash and not use your credit card. Make it hard to do. Freeze your credit card in a block of ice.

You want to walk or jog each morning to start your day, but by the time you get up and move around you don't feel like it. Make it easier to do. Sleep in your jogging clothes, socks included, shoes optional.

You want to stop biting your nails, but don't remember until you're doing it. Make it hard or uncomfortable to do. Coat your nails with bitters, put bandaids over the ends, put a sugar free lollypop in your mouth.

You want to wake up 20 minutes earlier every day but keep pushing the alarm snooze. Make it hard to stay in bed. Move the alarm, set the lights on a timer, set the TV on a timer.

You want to learn to save money for a long-term goal, but never get to the bank and it always seems like such a small amount so you spend it. Get in the habit of saving a little bit first. Start by putting a $2 coin in a bucket in the kitchen.

You want to think before you grab something from the fridge. Make it easy to remember and hard to do. Put a padlock on it and give the key to your spouse so you have to ask. You'll remember and you will think!

You want to walk up the stairs at work but keep taking the elevator. Make it hard not to do. Tell everyone at work and ask them to say "booooo" to you if they see you in the lift.

You want to fold the clothes, but they sit in the laundry out of sight until you walk in there next time. Make it easy to remember and hard to not do. Take the laundry and put it on the dining table, the lounge, in the bathroom sink.

You want to stretch while watching TV but once you sit on the lounge you don't move. Make it easier to do. Move the lounge into another room and put a mat on the floor.

You want to move more, you're annoyed at your inactivity. Make it easier to do. Take your TV remote to work and leave it there.

You want to drink water throughout the day but forget to go to the cooler or can't be bothered. Make it easier to remember and do. Get a jogger's water bottle and belt.

You want the habit of walking for an hour every day. Create anticipation for the desired behaviour by denying the opportunity to do more. Start walking for 10 minutes every day until it's a habit, then extend the time slowly.

Take the Challenge

I would like to challenge each and every one of you to install a new habit. One that may be useful, but more importantly to learn from the experience of using these strategies. You might pick up on one of the examples above or choose something unique to your own desires. I would like to encourage you to then initiate another action - write to me and tell me what you did.

This is a valuable tool for achieving some very important life goals, like maintaining your health, your flexibility and your future finances. Keep it simple for the first go. It is just to learn about the process of creating a habit. Once you know how, then you can tackle bigger things.

In closing, I would like to suggest just a couple of key thoughts to take away:

• The only way to fail is to fail to initiate the first action.
• Acknowledging successes counts. Admonishing yourself for failures is useless.
• Never think you are bad or weak. Behaviour is based on innate tendencies and you are following deep-seated patterns in humans. Remember you have options about your approaches and can choose useful ones over useless ones.

Good luck and I look forward to hearing your stories!

Copyright 1999-2000 Navybridge Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stephanie Burns is one of Australia's top adult educators. Her work has included teaching adults guitar, memory strategies, learning strategies and training trainers to be better communicators. Her latest work is in the area of Goal Achievement. Subscribe to her email newsletter by visiting www.stephanieburns.com