Changing a Habit/Behavior is not easy. Especially if you have lived with those habits for over 30 years. I read a very interesting article by BJ Fogg, whos a behavioral expert and teaches at Stanford University. He says that Behavior is caused by 3 elements - Motivation, Ability & Trigger and even if one of these elements is missing, then behavioral change will not occur. This got me thinking.
More often that not, for each of us desiring a behavior change, motivation will not be a problem. And if that was the case, then behavioral change is merely a wishlist and not a goal. Hence one has to be absolutely sure when we desire for a behavioral change in the sense it has to be heart (emotional) based motivation.
Ability is something that each individual can ascertain and accordingly set goals within his/her current capabilities. For eg, an obese person can set a goal that he/she would walk 1 km a day every single morning and that would still be within his/her abilities. The only challenge is overestimating our capabilities and desiring to run a half marathon when you have hardly exercised in the past few months/years. This is a common problem for optimists (namely myself!) but over a period of time, one is able to ascertain where one stands. At the other end, setting easy goals does not help and hence one needs to be able to set small goals that is just within one's reach.
Trigger is an area that most of us miss out on. For eg, alarm clock should be a good trigger to wake up early. Having your sports wear out in the bed where you can see them when you wake up is a good trigger. Having a check list and marking a tick mark every single time you action on your goals is an excellent trigger.
But in spite of all this, something is missing in the jigsaw puzzle of behavioral change. And that one area according to me is THE most important - Removing Existing Habits. One cannot expect to wake up early by sleeping late or by aspiring to exercise while at the same time binge on unhealthy food all the time. To me, the trigger has to be powerful not just for creating new habits but for removing old habits as well.
Am going to experiment with 'Trigger' to remove some existing habits that am not happy about. Will post on that later. In the meantime, please do share your triggers and your experiences as well. Till then, adios!
More often that not, for each of us desiring a behavior change, motivation will not be a problem. And if that was the case, then behavioral change is merely a wishlist and not a goal. Hence one has to be absolutely sure when we desire for a behavioral change in the sense it has to be heart (emotional) based motivation.
Ability is something that each individual can ascertain and accordingly set goals within his/her current capabilities. For eg, an obese person can set a goal that he/she would walk 1 km a day every single morning and that would still be within his/her abilities. The only challenge is overestimating our capabilities and desiring to run a half marathon when you have hardly exercised in the past few months/years. This is a common problem for optimists (namely myself!) but over a period of time, one is able to ascertain where one stands. At the other end, setting easy goals does not help and hence one needs to be able to set small goals that is just within one's reach.
Trigger is an area that most of us miss out on. For eg, alarm clock should be a good trigger to wake up early. Having your sports wear out in the bed where you can see them when you wake up is a good trigger. Having a check list and marking a tick mark every single time you action on your goals is an excellent trigger.
But in spite of all this, something is missing in the jigsaw puzzle of behavioral change. And that one area according to me is THE most important - Removing Existing Habits. One cannot expect to wake up early by sleeping late or by aspiring to exercise while at the same time binge on unhealthy food all the time. To me, the trigger has to be powerful not just for creating new habits but for removing old habits as well.
Am going to experiment with 'Trigger' to remove some existing habits that am not happy about. Will post on that later. In the meantime, please do share your triggers and your experiences as well. Till then, adios!
I agree. 'trigger' is the make or break part. 'trigger' has to do a lot with discipline or existing indiscipline. discipline, in a sense of 'routine' / regularising - body/mind activities ...
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