Is Lifestyle the Hot New Drug: Part 2 Changing Behavior: Habits
Changing behavior can sound daunting, but Habits are small transactions that help us make ‘living a new life’ doable.
Habits are a way to simplify our lives, so we don’t have to make decisions about everything. Sure, while you are building a practice, it takes more effort, but after you bake it in, your behavior runs on automatic (most of the time).
Habits are also a way to have daily wins, and research shows this is more helpful to sustain behavior than long term goals (even though those are important too).
Finally, and perhaps most important, habits are a way for us to make regular votes for our identity. When we start to vote more consistently for who we know we are, we develop confidence in our ability to succeed in making changes. So we make other changes and so the small things matter.
The sources of this information are years of training in motivational interviewing, my 20 plus years of working with some of the most interesting, motivated, and challenged people on earth, Heart Patients, New Parents, and Medicine Residents and several books.
My favorite three books on the subject are BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits, James Clear’s, Atomic Habits, Charles Duhigg’s, The Power of Habit. If you are a step-wise learner, start with BJ Fogg, if you are a principle-based learner, the other two will appeal more to you, and if you like super simple Stephen Guise, Mini Habits is a good one as well.
Though they all are great books and have keys that may serve you, I am hopeful that the way I present this in the next three articles will get you up and running.
Next Up: Start with a Question!
Note 1: If you want to get the next two posts now so you can jump right in, here are links to the downloadable handouts
Note 2: Several people have asked for a link to the grand rounds talk on “Is Lifestyle the Hot New Drug”.
Here is a link to a recording on this talk.
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