The holidays are over. You made it! It’s time to take a breath and relax.
Did you take a breath? Are you relaxed? Good.
Now, you’re ready to embark on one of the most challenging quests in the world: starting a new habit. Set a goal and make it happen! That’s what the new year is all about, right?
Great. Since you’re determined, you’ll likely want to be successful with this endeavor. At Integrative Family Medicine of Asheville, we also want you to succeed. That’s why we’ve mined popular psychology books, podcasts, and scientific literature to bring you the most successful strategies to achieve your goals… as far as we know—science changes. You understand.
Let’s start by choosing a goal. Then, we will break that goal into a habit to help achieve that goal.
THE GOAL
I’m sure you are familiar with some acronyms for goal-setting: ABC, SMART, SMARTER, etc. And these are great. The science that supports these acronyms boils down to three things. Your goal must be specific and attainable, and you must be able to measure your progress. This post will focus on choosing a particular goal and distilling that into a habit.
First up, what’s the goal? Maybe you want to prevent body odor from interfering with social interactions. Not that there have been complaints. Just saying. Or perhaps you want to have more energy throughout the day. Yeah, that’s probably better.
With those examples, we might implement these habits: 1) Put deodorant on, and 2) Exercise regularly.
Ok, so that’s it? Not quite.
THE HABIT
In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear describes a goal-setting tool known as an implementation intention. This leverages two common cues: time and location. Here’s the formula:
I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].
Examples:
1) I will PUT DEODORANT ON at 8 AM in MY BATHROOM
2) I will WALK FOR 30 MINUTES at 10 AM in MY NEIGHBORHOOD.
Perfect. But there’s more!
There are many actions that you perform regularly without thinking about them. Brushing teeth, making coffee, tying shoes, etc. BJ Fogg, author of Tiny Habits, calls these “anchors” and recommends using them to your advantage. Placing a desired habit after an anchor is a great way to increase the likelihood of success. The TIME and LOCATION part of our implementation intention is covered because they’re grounded in another habit. James Clear calls this “habit stacking.” Are you ready to stack some habits?
Take a minute to review some actions you do primarily without thinking. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Now for another formula, courtesy of James Clear and BJ Fogg:
After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].
Examples:
After I BRUSH TEETH, I will PUT ON DEODORANT.
After I MAKE COFFEE, I will WALK FOR 30 MINUTES.
Habit stacking is a great technique to help shape future behavior. It takes advantage of an already established cue and timeframe. Try it out!
GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR GOAL
So, you’ve figured out your habit and stacked it on another habit. Exciting! You’ll want to tell people about it to keep yourself accountable. You’ll want to write your goal out and stick it in the mirror so you see it every day. You’ll want to reward yourself every time you hit a mile marker.
If you want to be successful, don’t do ANY of that.
Allow me to explain.
First, when you tell your friends about your plan to achieve a goal, they aren’t going to laugh in your face… I hope*. Generally, your friends will express excitement for you and encourage you to do it. And this is great! Specific neural networks are activated, your brain releases dopamine, and you feel accomplished. It feels good. The problem is that this decreases the likelihood that you will pursue the goal in the future. I know. It’s weird. But it’s science!
*Having someone tell you that they don’t think you can accomplish a goal can help you achieve that goal. But this probably isn’t the healthiest way to go about things 😉
Next, a common technique to remind ourselves about a goal is to throw a Post-it in the mirror or somewhere you will see it daily. The challenge here is that anything that is a regular part of your environment gets canceled out by your brain. So even though it’s there, your brain doesn’t care.
Finally, after you’ve started to form the habit that will move you toward your goal, you’ll want to reward yourself somehow. Be careful with this. Even though you deserve a reward for your hard work, this can backfire. Regularly rewarding yourself after milestones (a good session, a successful week, etc.) will reduce your motivation.
Ok, fantastic. What can you do instead, you ask?
What to do instead:
Firstly, protect your goal, and your chances of success will increase. Please try not to share it. Andrew Huberman of the Huberman Lab podcast calls this the “Don’t Tell the World Rule.”
Obviously, everyone loves Post-its. If you plan to incorporate visual cues into your habit-forming conquest, you will want to relocate that reminder every day. Even better would be to rewrite the note every day because writing activates other areas of your brain involved in the learning process.
Last but not least, flip a coin. That’s right. After a successful week of putting on deodorant every day, flip a coin to see if you’ll get a reward. This is called random intermittent reinforcement and has an excellent success rate of keeping you engaged. Just ask video game developers.
Next Up!
Alright, you’ve got your goal, your habit, and a couple of techniques to start. Next month, we will dive into executing and maintaining your chosen habit for long-term success. Until then, if you’re ready to take action, schedule an appointment with our amazing integrative health coach, Ariana, and explore ways to move forward on your habit-forming journey. You can also check out the resources below for deeper dives into all things habit-related.
This blog post was written by Tom Everts, PA-C for Integrative Family Medicine of Asheville.
*This post is not comprehensive—there is so much more to tell you! Later this year, Integrative Family Medicine of Asheville will introduce a new member-benefit that will include a more detailed approach to developing new habits. Be on the lookout!
References:
- Wood W, Rünger D. Psychology of Habit. Annu Rev Psychol. 2016;67:289-314. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033417. Epub 2015 Sep 10. PMID: 26361052.
- Fritz H, Hu YL, Gahman K, Almacen C, Ottolini J. Intervention to Modify Habits: A Scoping Review. OTJR (Thorofare N J). 2020 Apr;40(2):99-112. doi: 10.1177/1539449219876877. Epub 2019 Oct 23. PMID: 31642394.
- Clear, James. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results : An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. New York, New York, Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2018.
- Fogg, B. J.. Tiny Habits. [United States], HarperCollins, 2019.