Engage in very small, achievable behaviors and allow yourself to feel successful, as these tiny successes can lead to a powerful shift in self-perception and identity, enabling you to do harder things.
Understand that emotions, particularly positive ones, are what cause your brain to rewire and form habits, not mere repetition, making the change process feel good and less like suffering.
Immediately after performing a desired behavior, celebrate with a ‘hack’ like a fist pump, thinking of something joyful, or any action that evokes a strong positive emotion, to help wire in the habit quickly.
When your motivation for a behavior is low, ensure the behavior is extremely easy to perform, as high ability can compensate for low motivation and ensure the action still gets done.
If a behavior is too difficult, scale it back to a ’tiny’ version (e.g., floss one tooth instead of all, work out for four minutes instead of an hour) to make it achievable and build momentum.
Regularly simplify and redesign your environment to make desired behaviors easier, thereby reducing the amount of motivation required to perform them consistently.
To stop an unwanted habit, systematically untangle it by first trying to remove the prompt, then making the behavior harder to do, and finally attempting to change your motivation level, in that specific order.
To address unwanted habits, first focus on practicing and creating a variety of good habits, as this process can shift your identity, build behavior change skills, and reduce fear, potentially pushing out unwanted behaviors.
If other methods fail to stop an unwanted habit, replace it with a new, desired behavior (a ‘swap’) that is either more motivating or easier to do than the original habit.
Continuously design and redesign your physical environment to make desired ‘good’ behaviors as easy as possible to perform, rather than relying on willpower.
To ensure consistent behavior, simplify access to necessary tools or items (e.g., vitamins) by organizing them in a dedicated, easily accessible spot and removing any small barriers like bottle caps.
To avoid relying on willpower, remove all tempting or ‘bad’ items from your immediate environment (e.g., fridge) and stock it only with options that align with your desired plan.
Consciously manage your lighting environment throughout the day, using natural light when possible and adjusting artificial light (e.g., amber in evening, red at night) to support desired states like energy or relaxation.
Recognize the significant impact of sound on your environment and actively manage it to optimize for better decisions, thinking, or overall well-being.
Assess your current motivation level for a task and adjust the difficulty of the behavior accordingly, aiming to do the hardest behavior you can manage in that moment.
To facilitate behavior change, identify and align with what people already want to do or their existing aspirations, rather than trying to force new desires.
To change your perception or view of a situation, consciously alter the narrative or story you tell yourself about it.
To increase motivation and enable harder actions, focus on diminishing fear, which allows hope to emerge as a powerful motivator.
To influence behavior, use well-told stories or narratives to establish clear cause-and-effect relationships, which can build hope or fear around specific actions.
Do not tell false stories or narratives, as they can create false hopes or fears that are very difficult to dislodge from people’s minds, potentially causing harm.
To change your behavior, join a ‘destination group’ or community that is already performing the behaviors you aspire to adopt, making it easier for you to conform.
To make a change, join a ‘journey group’ with other novices who share the same goal, supporting each other through the process of adopting new behaviors.
To solidify your own behavioral change and competence, progress from a novice to a teacher or guru by instructing others in the desired behavior.
If certain friendships hinder your desired behavioral changes, consider reducing your engagement with them or, if necessary, ending them.
When making a positive change, communicate your intentions to your household members and ask for their support to prevent unintentional sabotage.
When faced with a larger task, set the bar extremely low (e.g., tidy one thing in the car) to overcome procrastination and initiate the behavior, knowing that starting often leads to doing more.
Create a physical card with a list of weekly routines (e.g., cleaning tasks) and make the habit pulling out that card to prompt yourself to do them.
Reframe the purpose of everyday objects to align with your desired behaviors (e.g., view your fridge as a ‘help us eat healthy device’ rather than just a cooling device) to support your goals.
To effectively change behavior, provide specific instructions on what behavior to do and how to do it, making it easier for people.
When trying to change behavior, understand that information alone is not enough for sustained change; it must be combined with specific ‘how-to’ guidance and ease of action.
Understand that stopping unwanted habits is generally much harder and a different process than creating new ones, so adjust your approach accordingly and don’t blame yourself if it’s challenging.
Recognize that your behavior is heavily influenced by your social environment, including friends and coworkers, and account for this impact on your habits.
To gauge your own or others’ motivation, observe the amount of effort being put into a task; higher effort often indicates higher motivation.