You know that you should eat better, and exercise more. But there’s also a force pulling you in the other direction. That force is chocolate cake, and another re-run of Friends, American Idol, or Game of Thrones.
Original source: here.
So how do you establish the healthy habits that you know you should have?
That’s what we’ll discuss in this article.
The Battle Between the Emotional and Logical
In their book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, psychologists Chip and Dan Heath say that the emotional side of the brain is like an elephant, and the logical side of the brain is like the person riding the elephant. So logically, you might know what you need to do (exercise, for example), but your emotions/feelings are pulling you in another direction (stay on the couch, and watch Netflix). Sure, the rider gives direction, but the elephant is much stronger, so if there’s a battle between the emotional and the logical side of the brain, the emotional will always win.
So the key is to align your emotions with your logic. For me it’s easy, because I don’t have emotions 😉
But if you’re a “normal” person (unlike me), how do you do that? You ask yourself (or better yet, get someone else to ask) provocative questions, that evoke emotion.
Questions That Evoke Emotion
So you know logically that you need to exercise and eat healthier. Now how do you create an emotional connection to that? By digging deep with good questions.
So here are the questions that you ask yourself in order to motivate yourself:
- Why do I want to ___________ (exercise/eat right)?
Keep asking “why” 3-5 times.
Example:
Q: Why do I want to exercise?
A: So that I can look good and have more energy
Q: Why do I want to look good and have more energy?
A: Because I feel like I could get more done in my day if I had more energy.
Q: Why?
A: Because right now, there’s lots of things I want to do that aren’t getting done, because I just feel too tired
And so on…
- How do I expect to feel as a result of ___________ (your goal)?
Don’t just answer “good” or “happy.” Elaborate on that.
- If I keep doing what I am doing right now, what will happen in 6 months?
Paint yourself a vivid picture. The answer might be “I’ll be even heavier, with even less energy. I’ll be lethargic all the time, and I won’t feel productive, or attractive. It might affect my performance at work, or in my business.”
- If I change what I’m doing now, and get on the right track, what will be the outcome in 6 months?
Again, don’t just answer “that would be good” or “I will be happy.” Instead, make it precise, vivid, detailed. Maybe the answer would be “if I had more energy, I’d get more things done around the house, I’d have the desire to get back into playing tennis, or golf, or hiking. I’d go out more. I’d travel more.” Etc.
And of course, based on your answer, there may or may not be follow-up questions. That’s why I recommend having someone else ask you these questions, so that as an objective person, they can think of intelligent follow-ups. Best to get someone experienced to ask these. Since me and my team has worked with thousands of clients, we certainly have great experience asking these kinds of questions. If you’d like our help, you can fill out this survey to see if you qualify to work with us.
Focus on Behaviors, Not Outcomes
You can’t control your weight. You can influence your weight, but you can’t control it. However, what you can control is whether you exercise and eat well. After all, if you exercise and eat right, but the weight isn’t moving, if your focus is the outcome (weight loss), you’ll be disappointed. But if your focus is on the behavior (I will exercise 3 times in the next week), you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment once you complete it.
And small accomplishments build on each other. You start to crave that feeling of accomplishment, so your consistency improves over time. But again, focus on what you can control.
Make Small Changes
The more things you try to change at the same time, the less likely you are to stick with them. So if you go on a crash diet, it’s a way of eating drastically than the way you currently eat. So when you eat around friends and family, there’s going to be a strong “pull” to revert back to your previous ways.
But if you make one tiny change, it won’t be a big impediment. And after 2-6 weeks, when that change you’ve made feels really easy, natural, and a regular part of your lifestyle, pick one more tiny little change, and implement that. Continue repeating with newer habits. This way, if you implement one small habit per month, after a year, you’ll have a drastically healthier lifestyle, without really putting much effort into it.
The key, however is to truly make the habit so easy that even you think it’s ridiculous. When you ask yourself “on a 0-10 scale, how confident am I that I can do ________ (fill in the blank with “exercise for 10 minutes per day” or “have 2 salads per week”, or whatever else you like)?”, the answer should be “9” or “10.” It should be a no-brainer.
If your answer is “maybe” or “I’ll try”, make your chosen behavior even easier.
If you’d like to figure out what are the smallest behaviors that will have the largest, fastest impact, we can help you identify those. As mentioned earlier, you can fill out this survey to see if you qualify to work with us.
