NYE Habit Change Help
Integration is the incarnate implementation of an intention.
Sharing the harvest from my work aiding people with life-changing Integrations, the following frames build upon psychological research into rewards and motivation.
These ‘power ups’ help you bridge the gap between intention and implementation – helping you stick with your habit changes.
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How are your daily habits leading you towards the life you dream of?
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Change your identity :
Psych research demonstrates that the most sustained changes in habit stem directly from a change in your identity / narrative.
For example ~ I am a healthy person who prioritizes physical wellness.
Instead of ~ ‘I can’t eat junk food’ or ‘I need to get in shape’.
This identity change creates congruences across a variety of choices, such as whether to go for a walk, whether to engage in binge eating, and what to get at the grocery store.
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Don’t > Can’t :
‘Don’t’ points to a change in identity and leans on character congruency, ‘can’t’ requires more novel willpower, which you can quickly exhaust, as you only have a certain amount per day.
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Small wins fuel the engine of change :
Break down big goals into small pieces and projects. Create a calendar where you have a visual acknowledgment of success in adding one more link to the ‘chain’ – this creates a lot of inertia to not want to break the ‘streak’.
These little wins keep giving a much-needed motivational dopamine reward boost to keep you going, and don’t end up taking much from the large overall ‘pile’ of dopamine you will receive when you accomplish your big goal.
These little wins keep giving a much-needed motivational dopamine reward boost to keep you going, and don’t end up taking much from the large overall ‘pile’ of dopamine you will receive when you accomplish your big goal.
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Tip jar for good behavior:
Putting a small amount of money into an account when you engage in a healthy habit, such as preparing a good meal, that you can then put towards a related support splurge, like going out to a nice healthy restaurant, helps create a sustaining dopamine reward trickle.
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Take small bites :
Try to make a 1% improvement daily – something manageable, but when in aggregate will add up to a lot.
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Consistency :
If you slip up one day on a habit {such as exercise}, forgive yourself, but ensure you will engage the pattern the next day, so that missing your chosen habit does not become the new pattern! Aka, one day is ok, but double your effort to return to the desired habit the next day.
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Create an easy on-ramp :
If you engage in the behavior you are attempting to move away from, such as having an unhealthy snack, see it as an isolated incident rather than a reason to give up completely. Consider that you may have set your challenge bar too high and see how you can create more intermediate steps to make the change closer to a smooth ramp and less like lunging up a huge step or climbing a steep ladder.
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Increase intertia :
Friction breaks Addiction.
Make the habits you want to increase easier and those that you want to discourage harder. Create space from satisfying your impulses immediately – even if only momentary – like needing to click through a separate folder to access your social media apps, not saving your passwords, or taking the batteries out of the remote and having a book close at hand when you sit down in your ‘relaxing’ spot.
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Pleasurable Physical Triggers / Reminders
Create common pleasurable physical triggers you will come across to encourage your desired behavior. For example, if you would like to drink more water, acquire a vessel you love to touch that is pleasing to you and always have this vessel with you. Tie drinking water with a color such as blue {eg. getting a vessel that is blue} and place blue cups and imagery of water in prominent places, set a timer to go off every hour with a waterfall sound – to encourage you to get out of your chair, stretch and have some water, etc. If there is a negative stimulus affecting your water consumption, such as not enjoying the taste of tap water, gather spring water, or get mineral drops or a healthy electrolyte solution to add to your water.
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Accountabilibuddy :
Someone you check in with that you are externally accountable to often makes the biggest difference, as you are motivated to not disappoint them.
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Reach out if you’d like to explore me being an accountabilibuddy or want help creating supportive structures for change in your life.
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