building lasting change.
What is behaviour change, and how can you make it last?
The average person you ask knows what is ‘good’ for them. They know the things that are meant to make them feel good but being able to implement these behaviours into their daily lives? That’s hard. We can still agree that education around health has low rates and needs to improve, especially with conflicting evidence, social media, the new buzzwords, and fad diets. But the majority of people know that there are things that would change their lifestyle if they stuck to it, such as:
Exercise
Eating healthy
Drinking water
Getting enough sleep
Limiting alcohol…
It’s simple for trainers, PT and influencers to list and sell to others “Do these 5 things and you will be healthy!” but the truth is, it’s not linear and it requires behaviour change.
Again Simple! Of course, you need to change your behaviour to do this!? It’s not rocket science? But not many people really dial in on all the contributing factors that can be a barrier to change. Even throughout university, learning about athletes and the highly technical ideas that alter performance, we were never taught the bigger picture of the HOW behind it. It’s all well and good to learn about these systems to create the ultimate performing athlete but who's ensuring that this person is motivated, educated, and disciplined enough to do every little thing right?
In this situation, athletes aren’t the best example as often they are the small group in society who are intrinsically motivated to be on top of physical health, eating, and lifestyle patterns in order to succeed, but you get my point. You can have all the knowledge in the world but if you can't make it a habit it is useless to your lifestyle.
So how can an average person wanting to make a change start doing this?
Attitude
This is the most important part of behaviour change. If you change your behaviour but still have a negative attitude and mindset towards the action, it decreases the chance of it working and if it does work it will be harder to maintain. Let's take a simple habit like drinking water, let's say the goal is to drink 3 liters a day and make water your only drink other than the odd coffee or tea. You can look at this habit and think it’s stupid, not worth doing, time-consuming, and challenging or you can see it as a worthwhile challenge, add flavours to your water like mint or lemon, you can look forward to and enjoy your daily coffee or tea and ultimately enjoy the process of this habit change and have a positive attitude towards it. You technically can succeed in this habit both ways, but the first way is going to make it seem like a punishment. This is a simple habit, but imagine this when it comes to exercise, food habits, and addictions ( alcohol, social media, etc).
Being open-minded and coachable.
If you want change you must be open to new ideas. Even the people at the top of their game, athletes, leaders, bosses are most successful when they are coachable. When you close your mind off to new ideas and learning you become stagnant. “Leave your ego at the door” is a common phrase and it can't be more true; you need to learn from others or learn from trial and error as if it’s your first time hearing these ideas; this doesn’t mean it’s always going to be successful but if you have tried XYZ before and it didn’t work for you, TRY AGAIN. That may of been 5 years ago, you may of had a completely different mindset, different routine, and lifestyle …
Determination and willpower = ‘wants vs needs’
Motivation will get you started, but it doesn’t always last. Motivation will come in waves and is best described as a feeling, discipline is the action that goes with this. In saying this I am also a firm believer in listening to what your body is telling you, if you are constantly fatigued, feeling sick, or injured, take the day off training. But if I listened to what my body wanted each day I would maybe get to the gym 3 times a week, max. Change your mindset to ask yourself what your body needs. By doing this you can think “I’m feeling unmotivated and tired - but if I go to my running group I will feel energised, upbeat, and a step closer to my running goals”. While you may have dreaded the run, your body needed the benefits of completing a run, both mentally and physically.
“Motivation produces emotion, but discipline produces results.”
Maintenance
When you first start changing your health habits your body gets used to this new way of movement and better eating habits, while it’s hard, you can see the change! This keeps motivation and enjoyment high, you notice the hard work you put in and so do others. But this needs to be a lifestyle… after some years of keeping to this routine, you may plato. Personally, I have found this in all avenues, weight loss plateaus ( which is likely to happen to most people and can be a good thing), strength, or injuries occuring. A year ago I injured my lower back, I could barely bend over or lift anything, so I took a month off training. Even today, it has never gotten back to 100%. While frustrating, I’ve had to adapt to what I can do and focus on such as technique, rather than 1RM’s or what weight I can lift. The message here is to keep going even if progress slows down or stops. Find new reasons for why you exercise (e.g., mental health benefits, flexibility, socialisation) this will keep those waves of motivation coming!
These will all test your mindset and behaviour change, but remember lifestyle change is long-term, not a quick fix. Yor physical and mental health is complex so it makes sense that this is going to be a challenge. But a worthwhile one.
Remember why you started and take it one day at a time.
