“Hacking your Habits” for better Health.
According to B.J. Fogg at Stanford University, change isn’t about motivation or short term challenges. It is about our habits and the best way to create a new habit is to go small. So what does that mean? It means; instead of saying you are suddenly going to exercise 4 times a week for 40 minutes at the gym, try doing 5 minutes of push ups as part of your day. It may appear as if 5 minutes will not amount to any long term and meaningful changes to your health…..”Oh contraire”……. In fact, it is likely that you will create a habit around your push ups and increase them according to your own willingness and “habit hacking”. Evidence shows that this will create long term positive results.
How does this work? You need to add a habit that you want to add to your day based on your over-all goals. It is important that you design your behavior around the outcomes you are seeking. For example, lets say, you want to decrease your anxiety with the habit of meditation and mindfulness exercises in your day. You want to feel more at ease with your morning. So, you decide that you want to meditate every morning. However, you have only practiced a bit of meditation in an occasional yoga class. The formula to make this work for you would be to do the following:
Plan to meditate after an already automated behavior, such as, brushing your teeth.
Set the stage by placing your meditation pillow on or near the bathroom so that it is visible. You can move it, but, is a reminder.
Make it too easy! Plan to set your timer for one minute of meditation on your pillow after you brush your teeth.
Reward yourself with the feeling of victory. After you complete your one minute, give yourself, “yay’ or “I have got this” or put on your favorite morning music. Treat it with a feeling of success immediately.
This is how you hack your habits. Personally, I have hacked my eating habits for many years now and I know my own psyche well enough to be aware of what works and what doesn’t. Part of this process is getting to know yourself and becoming your own “best friend” and psyching yourself for the results you want. Think about how you can use these steps to create your own habits, make it easy, let it grow and see how you feel.
