New Year. New You?
At the beginning of the year, we often make commitments to stop unhealthy habits and start healthy ones. However, no matter how committed we are, we need help maintaining new routines. For example, we lose our resolve to eat healthily when stressed. We give in to using our electronics before bedtime, knowing it will disrupt our sleep. Our busy schedules make it challenging to maintain our commitment to regular exercise. Even though the new year is only a few weeks old, many of us have already given up on the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year.
We often think our lack of self-control or willpower causes our lack of success. It is easy to see why we feel that way. Most of us have experienced our willpower failing us when we needed it most, such as when we are tired or stressed. This leads to feeling like we have failed and are doomed to accept our unhealthy behavior.
Don’t give up yet! There is another way to get your healthy behaviors back on track. Scientific evidence suggests an alternative approach to successfully changing our behavior: mindful behavior change. Over the next few weeks, I will describe the process of mindful behavior change in terms of four simple components:
Goal Setting
Limiting Beliefs
If-Then Planning
Self-Monitoring
Before we embark on this exciting journey, it's essential to grasp the fundamental principles behind forming habits.
What is a Habit?
A habit is a behavioral pattern that we regularly repeat and appears to occur unconsciously. Examples might include brushing our teeth, driving a car, washing dishes, putting on our shoes, etc. A habit is one of dozens of things we do daily without conscious thought—it's as if we are on automatic pilot. Research shows that habits represent approximately 45% of everyday behaviors and tend to be repeated in the exact location almost daily.
Habit Loop
Creating a good habit is a fundamental challenge for everyone. The good news is that once a good habit is formed, it can be performed without conscious thought, making that behavior automatic. The bad news is that this is true for harmful or unwanted habits, making them exceedingly difficult to break or modify.
To learn more about mindful behavior change, subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. Once you understand the fundamentals of behavior change, achieving your goals for 2025 will be much more rewarding.
Understanding how habits are formed is the foundation for making behavior changes. Utilizing this approach means you do not need to rely on willpower alone. The idea that one needs more willpower to succeed in changing our behavior is suboptimal. We know willpower wears out over time and in times of stress. For example, how often have you resolved not to eat that cookie after a bad day? But then you find that's all you can think about.
Making intentional choices begins with learning to manage triggers in our environment and from within. The Habit Loop demonstrates that constant environmental cues set the stage for self-regulation failures, leading to a lack of behavior change. Once we understand how habits are formed, we can start to work to change our behavior instead of reinforcing unwanted behaviors.
