la metamorphose

1.   HAVE A STRONG COMMITMENT TO MAKE THE CHANGE

• Do not approach things half heartedly:  “Do.  Or do not.  There is no try.” (Yoda, Star Wars). 
• Plan in advance – avoid setting goals at the last minute based on how you happen to feel on New Year’s Eve.  Start planning now.
• Write down goals in terms of them being achieved already – “I am a non smoker”. 
• Avoid saying “I will never do [the bad habit] again” – even though this is based on good intent, it has a negative slant that sets you up for failure;  instead focus positively on what you NOW do in the new behaviour  - “I go to the gym twice a week”. 
• Avoid vague words such as ‘might’, ‘hope’ or ‘try’ when you’re thinking or talking about the change as this type of language invokes doubt.   Words like ‘am’, ‘will’ and ‘have’ are stronger and reinforce the change.

 2.   IDENTIFY POTENTIAL TRIGGERS AND ESTABLISH STRATEGIES FOR DIFFUSING THEM

• Consider the kind of situations and people that might make you slip back into the old bad habit.
• Establish specific coping strategies that will stop this from happening and keep you on track, eg. when your colleague offers you a cake - you are prepared with an apple to eat instead.

 3.  CHART YOUR PROGRESS

• Monitor your progress for 6 weeks – this time period is best practice for any new behaviour pattern to become established.
• Visually chart your progress.  Draw a chart of dates and tick boxes and put it somewhere you’ll see it easily (eg. the kitchen wall), or create a spreadsheet – whatever method of measurement makes sense to you and is easy to keep up to date.  This process will MOTIVATE you during the change as the more you monitor your success and FEED IT BACK to yourself the greater you are reinforcing the new behaviour.  Before long it becomes completely natural.  So you won’t even have to think about eating a healthy diet any more – it’s your food of choice. 

Finally – most importantly – is to dispel the notion that a certain kind of behaviour is just your lot; part of your make up; fixed and unchangeable.  This is simply untrue. 

It is a fact that you have been changing yourself ever since the day you were born; and so it follows that you can continue to change and develop in the most positive way for you.  

Best wishes for 2011 - Happy New Year!

Leigh

References:

(1) Miller, E.T. & Marlatt, G.A. (1998). How to Keep Up with Those New Year’s Resolutions: Researchers Find Commitment Is the Secret of Success.

NB. For persistent unwanted habits that seem to be ‘stuck’, hypnotherapy can identify the unconscious need which is being satisfied by the behaviour and enable it to be changed.   If you would like to discuss this in more detail please get in touch.