banner



How To Modify And Change Your Behaviors

The six stages of behavior change: a how-to guide

time-for-change-sign-behavior-change

Jump to section

Why is behavior change so hard?

The elements of behavior change

The 6 stages of behavior change

How to change beliefs

Lasting beliefs alter is possible

If you've ever made (and cleaved) a New Year's resolution, you know how hard behavior modify tin can be.

Y'all start January all excited about how different your life is going to be. Your motivation levels are through the roof.

But by mid-February, you lot're back to where you were earlier Thanksgiving. Bad habits are now routine again.

Just why is changing behavior so hard? And is there a way to make successful behavioral changes?

Let'southward take a look at behavior modify theory to determine what makes behavior change so hard. We also provide you with beliefs change examples and share a vi-step process that volition teach yous how to change behavior.

Why is behavior alter so hard?

Most of our behavior is habitual. Behaviors get automated when repeated over time.

A good example of this is driving. When you lot learn to drive, it requires conscious try to acquire and remember all the right steps — "mirror, signal, maneuver," anyone?

But equally time goes on, those actions grade habits.

This happens when you've practiced them so often that they become automatic.

Successful behavioral change is hard because our brains go stuck in fixed patterns.

Simply the same mechanism that fixes our problem behavior as mental habits is often the solution to changing them.

The part of neuroplasticity in behavior change

Neuroplasticity is the procedure past which our brains alter as we learn. It refers to the physical structures of the brain.

A new connexion forms in your brain every time y'all acquire something new.

It's weak at first, but with repetition, that connexion becomes stronger over fourth dimension. This makes the new, healthier beliefs into a habit.

The three stages of the neuroplastic change process are:

  • Chemical change: these are short-term changes in brain chemistry in response to new behavior. They boost brusk-term memory and improve motor skills brusque term.
  • Structural change: new connections grade, altering the encephalon'southward structure. This boosts long-term memory and long-term improvement of motor skills.
  • Functional change: entire brain networks modify, becoming more efficient in their functioning. This is when lasting behavioral change occurs.

Intentional behavior change requires weakening a potent neural connection to break the old habit. At the same fourth dimension, you strengthen the new i.

This is difficult because setbacks can easily knock the states dorsum into our old mental patterns and behaviors.

three-stages-of-neuroplastic-change-behavior-change

Sign up to receive the latest insights, manufactures, and exclusive resources from BetterUp.

The elements of behavior modify

Before y'all start your planned stages of change, you must kickoff understand the elements of change.

These are the factors that volition either assist or hinder you in achieving your desired beliefs modify.

Behavioral scientific discipline change theory proposes different models. Each includes dissimilar elements of change.

However, for simplicity, nosotros can intermission them downward into four master ones.

1. Your willingness to change

How set up are you to change your electric current beliefs? Are you changing for yourself or someone else?

Cocky-motivation is a primal factor in making your new behavior stick.

2. The benefits of change

Awareness of the benefits of your target beliefs volition help y'all stay motivated.

Information technology volition also increase your resilience and ability to overcome setbacks.

3. Your barriers to change

Are your current circumstances preventing you lot from changing?

Identify any barriers to behavior alter and list any possible solutions.

4. The likelihood of relapse

If yous desire to make lasting change, y'all volition face obstacles and setbacks along the manner.

Being aware of possible challenges volition help you set for and overcome them.

elements-of-behavior-change

The 6 stages of behavior change

According to the transtheoretical model of alter, at that place are vi stages of behavior modify.

1. Precontemplation stage

At this stage, people are non yet aware of the negative beliefs they demand to change.

They don't come across their beliefs as a trouble and aren't interested in getting assistance.

They may become defensive if someone pressures them to alter. They also avoid speaking, reading, or thinking most it.

They may also absorb information about this problem from family unit, friends, or the media, simply won't have action until they come across it as problematic.

2. Contemplation stage

At this stage, people are aware of the negative consequences or issues. But they're non withal gear up to change their unhealthy behavior.

They do commencement thinking about information technology, however. They know it'due south necessary to change but aren't ready.

They might weigh the pros and cons and whether the long-term benefits outweigh the curt-term effort.

This stage tin final a few days or an entire lifetime, depending on the private.

3. Grooming or determination stage

This is the stage when a person is prepare to make a change. They become committed to irresolute and motivated to have the necessary steps.

They read, talk, and gather information about the problem.

The training stage is crucial to the success of behavior change. Skipping this phase can drastically decrease your chances of success.

4. Activity stage

At this stage, people utilize the strategies they learned in the previous stage to get-go a new, healthy beliefs.

This takes willpower, and there is a high risk of failure and slipping back into old beliefs and habits.

It can help to avoid external temptation and set rewards for achieving intermediate goals.

The support of others is also essential at this phase.

5. Maintenance phase

In this phase, people accept made progress and realized the benefits of changing.

They understand that maintaining change will require effort, merely they are aware of its value.

They create strategies to preclude relapse until the new habit becomes familiar and natural.

vi. Relapse stage

This phase is when people skid back into their quondam behaviors and habits.

Relapsing is a normal part of the process of alter.

The key is to identify the trigger that caused the failure and look for new and better strategies for dealing with it.

Bearing in mind the benefits of the alter helps regain motivation when restarting the stages of change model.

six-stages-of-behavior-change

How to change behavior

Now that you empathize the elements of change and the six stages of behavior alter, it's time to put them into action.

Permit's take a expect at four of the most mutual areas of behavior alter and some behavior change interventions for each one.

1. Diet

If y'all've e'er tried a radical change in your nutrition and eating habits, you know how hard it tin can be.

Instead of extreme, unsustainable changes, try introducing pocket-size changes one at a fourth dimension.

Research shows that this approach makes it easier to sustain changes over the long term.

For example, if you drink a lot of soda, endeavour reducing your consumption to ane per mean solar day for a while. Eventually, you'll find it easier to let go of that 1-soda-a-day habit.

two. Physical activity

If you're the kind of person who pays for a gym membership but never goes, you demand to be strategic in your approach to physical activity.

For case, you can build physical activity into your daily routine with a few simple tweaks.

Exit your machine a few blocks from the function and walk the rest of the way.

Take the stairs instead of the lift. Get a standing desk.

But exercise is of import, and these changes lone, though adept, might not exist enough.

To stay committed to exercise, find something y'all enjoy doing (yes, you have permission to cancel your gym membership).

Whether it's a brisk walk in the woods, a round of golf, a choreographed dance routine, or even a game of Twister, it'due south important to accept fun while exercising.

Tracking your goals and progress and logging your activeness can also help you stay motivated.

3. Medication non-adherence

According to enquiry, fifty% of chronic disease medications are not taken co-ordinate to the prescription.

If yous struggle with taking your prescribed medication, follow these steps:

  • Prepare an alarm to assistance you recollect to take information technology.
  • Apply a pillbox labeled with the days of the week, and so you lot can meet when you've taken it and when you haven't.
  • Make a note on your telephone or use a medication reminder app.

But remember, if you are having problem taking whatsoever prescribed medication, it is always recommended to discuss it with your doctor first.

4. Insomnia

Clinicians utilize a form of cerebral behavioral therapy to treat patients with insomnia. It's an intervention known as brief behavioral therapy for insomnia.

This is a four-step process that you lot tin try to meliorate your sleep patterns and reduce insomnia.

  1. Go along a slumber diary for two weeks.

Runway the fourth dimension yous go to bed, time taken to fall asleep, how frequently you wake up and for how long, what time yous wake upward, and what time you become out of bed.

  1. Set a wake-up time

Decide what time you would like to get upwardly and set your alarm for that time each morning.

Get out of bed when your alarm goes off, no thing what kind of dark y'all've had.

  1. Limit your total time in bed

After tracking your slumber for two weeks, calculate the boilerplate number of hours yous sleep per dark.

Add thirty minutes to that number to calculate your full time in bed limit.

  1. Summate your target bedtime

Subtract your total time in bed from your wake-upwardly time to calculate your target bedtime.

Aim to go to bed at this time (and not earlier), as long as you are sleepy.

Increase your total fourth dimension in bed by fifteen to 30 minutes per week as your sleep cycle starts to regulate itself.

scientifically-proven-strategies-behavior-change

Lasting behavior change is possible

Published June three, 2021

Read Next

Stay continued with BetterUp

Get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research.

Source: https://www.betterup.com/blog/behavior-change

Posted by: kerrseallegaid.blogspot.com

0 Response to "How To Modify And Change Your Behaviors"

Post a Comment

Iklan Atas Artikel

Iklan Tengah Artikel 1

Iklan Tengah Artikel 2

Iklan Bawah Artikel