| "Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become" James Clear
When I was in school, I desperately wanted to sleep more.
I ate healthy meals, I exercised regularly and I was socially connected. But I frequently didn’t get enough sleep. For the first hour of class, I’d be so exhausted I’d focus more on disguising my inescapable yawns than on the content I was learning. At night, I’d regularly fall asleep at my desk only to wake up and reluctantly continue typing away on my laptop. I knew the health risks. I knew I was impairing my cognitive function. I still didn’t change.
Fast-forward to today, I wake up naturally most days, reaping the benefits of consistent circadian rhythms. It’s exceedingly rare I’ll sleep less than 7 hours and I feel focused and sharp throughout the day.
So what changed? My approach to behaviour change.
In this article recall findings from a range of scientific studies on behaviour change to help understand how to effectively set goals, understand and change behaviour, and guide others to do the same. If you’ve ever set a goal with every intention to succeed, only to fall short, this article is for you. These ideas have helped me shape the person I’ve become and I hope they can help you too. The only way to find out is to read on from here!
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In a longitudinal study,
Once the study began,
This could be for a range of reasons, perhaps people set goals that were too ambitious, maybe their goals weren’t specific enough, potentially their values may have even changed. While these are all plausible explanations, I suspect there’s something else at play. They didn’t know how to change their behaviour. Equipped with ineffective strategies and misleading information, many were bound to fail.
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Writing down goals is often insufficient to change behaviour (1). Reasons include:
conflict between goals (explored more here)
setting too many goals
setting goals that are too difficult
looking too far into the future when setting goals
structuring goals poorly
“Considerable evidence indicates that specific, proximal, and optimally challenging goals are the most likely to yield success, particularly when people have strong self-efficacy beliefs toward their goals” (1)
Before we dive into understanding and changing behaviour, it’s useful to understand what effective goal setting looks like…
Goals that are self-concordant, i.e., goals aligning with your interests and values, set you up for success in behaviour change.
Why? When you’re continually energised and determined to reach a goal, you’re better able to ignore distractions. You’re also more likely to put effort into an intrinsically motivating goal than one sourced from social pressure, expectations and things you “should do.” (2)
Perhaps more importantly, progress at self-concordant goals is associated with positive wellbeing outcomes. (1)
It’s important to understand factors directly influencing our behaviour and those that indirectly shape our behaviour.
For the former, the COM-B system is a useful conceptualisation (3).
It makes evident that behaviour occurs when we have sufficient capability, motivation and opportunity. Capacity refers to the skills needed to perform the behaviour - both physical and psychological skills. Opportunity refers to physical and social limitations that may constrain us from performing the behaviour. Motivation refers to our drive to perform certain behaviours.
Returning to my struggle with sleeping an adequate amount - both capacity and opportunity needed to be changed. I needed to stop thoughts ruminating in my head as I tried to fall asleep (a psychological skill) and learn how to reduce the school work I had each night (a social limitation), among other factors. When these (and other) factors changed, capacity, opportunity and motivation were sufficient to fall asleep earlier.
For factors indirectly shaping our behaviour, it’s useful to think about our situation, attention and appraisals (4).
Our objective situation influences our choices - things like the arrangement of our environment and the social cues we encounter. These can be changed.
Examples include:
Keeping a bowl of apples on the kitchen benchtop (to encourage healthy eating)
Taking batteries out of the TV remote (to reduce “TV time”)
Charging your phone outside of your room (to reduce late night/morning scrolling)
Placing a journal next to your coffee mug (to encourage morning journaling)
Exercising with a friend, or in a class (to increase exertion in physical activity)
Studying at a library (to reduce distractions)
Social facilitation is a powerful phenomenon, as is the arrangement of our environment.
Our interpretation of our situation is influenced by where we place our attention.
Ever been thinking about buying a particular car brand and noticed more of those cars? What we monitor, think about and measure, influences our behaviour. If we track the number of steps we perform, we’ll likely focus on behaviours that help us get more steps. If we track our calories, we’ll be more likely to reflect on moments where we consume high amounts of calories.
Our attention dictates the features of the environment that become salient.
Our appraisals ultimately dictate our choices. They are influenced by our situation and attention.
Appraisals refer to how we conceptualise the value of different options available (e.g., is it more “valuable” to eat a salad or pasta for lunch?). These are not objective. Our goals, knowledge, identity and feeling all affect how we assign value.
At the completion of this stage, we choose the “highest value” option when deciding how to behave.
A quick note on habits… Habits are behaviours that are automatic - they’ve been repeated and reinforced to the point they’re often engrained in our routines and lives (4).
Essentially, we encounter their cue and the behaviour occurs with minimal effort or concentration. A study tracked the behaviours of undergraduate students and found more than a third of their behaviours were repeated almost everyday in the same location, what they labelled as “habits.” (5) They fit into the same models listed above, but the decision to complete the action is almost negligible.
When something is so regular, of course it’s hard to change.
Ever felt like a failure when you haven’t behaved the way you wanted to? You’re certainly not alone.
“Although the long-term benefits of physical activity, a balanced diet, and abstaining from smoking are well-known, failures to enact healthy behavior account for nearly half of premature deaths in the United States ” (4)
Apart from distilling any doubts that we don’t always behave in a way optimal for our health, this statistic illustrates that knowledge and skills are insufficient for us to perform healthy or advantageous behaviours. Why?
It’s easy to prioritise temporary rewards over long-term goals because they are immediately reinforced.
Taking the stairs “another day” gives us immediate relief of cruising up the elevator, having another pizza slice is immediately rewarded with the experience of mouth-watering flavours. It’s easy to be influenced by present bias, the phenomenon where we prioritise temporary rewards over those in future. We can more easily empathise with ourselves right now than our future self three months down the line.
To prevent “poor choices” we have to set ourselves up for success - otherwise, those immediate rewards become all too tempting.
As discussed above, there’s so much at play when we have to choose the behaviour that aligns with our goals. Continually having to make decisions (as opposed to automatised, habitual responding) is volitionally demanding. Authors in this paper present an argument that,
“it is essential to find a way to relieve the volitional burden of goal pursuit so that one does not continually have to make conscious commitments and adjustments to one’s goal-related activities”
Once we have a goal we’re committed to, specifying implementation intentions is important to ensure we do the right behaviours, at the right time.
An implementation intention involves specifying the “where, when and how” of a certain behaviour or habit. This includes detailing how to overcome distractions. If these are done successfully, you should be able to picture exactly how you’ll perform the behaviour, what environmental cue will “automate” the process and how you’ll address inevitable distractions.
For example, rather than simply conceiving you want to drink more water at work, you may specify you aim to keep a bottle at your desk, drink as you work, and refill the bottle each time you pass the tap on the way to the bathroom. Potential distractions could be forgetting your bottle (so you keep it at office), forgetting to fill it up (so you fill it each time you pass the tap) or forgetting to drink (so you keep it on your desk to serve as a visual cue).
Motivation has become highly popularised and thus, there’s a plethora of information surrounding the concept.
Introjected motivation, the use of feelings like shame and guilt to motivate us, has been shown to be ineffective for long-term health behaviour change (2) e.g., when trying to exercise or eat healthily. Additionally, using external regulation (rewards and punishments) as motivation to perform health-related behaviours is unlikely to lead to sustainable change (2). So what works?
According to this meta-analysis, (a study of studies), competence and support from others are helpful, but doing something for inherent enjoyment, or because it aligns with our goals, outcomes and values were the most powerful motivators for long-term health-related behaviour change. Let’s look at a concrete example to elucidate this point.
Janine can’t run around with her kids without running short of breath very quickly so she wants to exercise more.
To help motivate herself, she buys a six month membership (so she’ll feel guilty if she wastes here money) and tells herself if she goes to the gym, she’ll buy herself a protein shake after (as a reward). To get her in the mood, she also buys a range of gym wear. After 3 weeks, she doesn’t use her membership or clothes, making her feel worse than before because she spent so much trying to set up this new habit!
What could she have done?
Perhaps, getting fit wasn’t the right goal. Something that aligned more closely with her desired outcomes might have been enjoying experiences with her children.
If getting fit was the goal that aligns with her values, something more motivating would have been choosing an activity she already enjoys e.g., walking with a friend, or dancing in the living room to her favourite songs.
There are a plethora of other strategies to increase compliance with behaviours (via an increase in motivation) covered here:
Make behaviours immediately rewarding (e.g., choosing a style of training at the gym we enjoy doing)
Framing behaviours as important to our identity (e.g., packing a healthy lunch helps me be someone who looks after their health)
Conceptualising certain behaviours as a moral priority (e.g., walking to the shops is better for the environment than driving)
Connecting with our future self (e.g., if I keep walking, I’ll be able to continue to enjoy weekend hikes as I progress through my fifties)
Focusing on how the behaviour benefits others (e.g., by washing my hands for 20 seconds, I reduce the chance I’m bringing germs back home to my family)
Create norms that encourage positive behaviours (e.g., encouraging each team member to bring in homemade lunches to eat together in the cafeteria)
Set challenging, collective goals (e.g., do 20,000 steps as a team at football training)
Changing the behaviour of others is complex. We need the knowledge covered above but now, have to communicate information to influence the behaviour of others. The strategies below can help do exactly this.
Feedback is an essential component to shape the behaviour of others - both positive and negative.
For positive feedback, Carol Dweck, a professor in psychology at Stanford and author of Mindset, famously demonstrated the importance of process-focused praise.
In a range of studies, some students were praised on intelligence (person praise), while others were praised on their effort and processes (process praise). Those who received process praise were more likely to embrace challenges that helped them learn and performed better on harder tasks. Perhaps more notably, for children with low self-esteem, offering person praise led them to feel worse at subsequent, poor performance (6).
It should be noted that process praise won’t be effective if the subject isn’t using an effective strategy or it’s not genuine. It needs to be authentic.
For criticism, the stakes are even higher.
When our feedback is ambiguous, it’s easy for the recipient to draw misleading connotations from our feedback (e.g., they’re criticising me because they don’t value my contribution or, they think I’m not good enough). This ultimately hinders the effects of any feedback we provide in future. Negative thoughts and assumptions cannot be addressed with overpraise - if the receiver perceives that one’s praise isn’t genuine or, that it’s driven by lower expectations of them, this backfires self-esteem of the receiver drops (7).
So what should we do? Show we care.
When the recipient interprets criticism as feedback given from high standards that they are capable of achieving, a range of positive outcomes are reaped. Motivation increases, distrust towards the feedback deliverer decreases and resultantly, performance may increase (7). The following 19 words were used in this study to reveal the above outcomes, “I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.”
When recipients internalise this information, the effects are even more powerful.
In the same study, when African American students began to believe that criticism they obtain in the classroom is driven by high standards and belief they can reach them, as oppose to prejudice and discrimination, the achievement gap between African American students and white students dropped by nearly 40%. And the number of African American students failing the course for the year nearly halved (from 43% to 23%).
The evidence demonstrates that it’s so important that recipients understand that feedback is given to help, not hinder. The 19 words above don’t have to be recited verbatim, but the message behind them needs to be clear. I’m here to help and I believe in you.
Motivational interviewing refers to having collaborative conversations to resolve ambiguity on why and how one should change their behaviour.
There is strong evidence that this technique is effective when individuals are trying to “stop” or reduce harmful behaviours (e.g., alcohol abuse, smoking). The key is that we do this by challenging assumptions, as opposed to attacking ideas or evidence behind one’s claims.
Tara Westover put it best on Rethinking when she explained that,
“When we're under attack, we really can't take in new information. A lot of our cognitive capacity just goes completely offline.”
Opening someone’s perspective to the dichotomy between their behaviours and identity can reveal to them their cognitive dissonance, a discomfort when our actions don’t align with our identity or values.
So how do we go about this? Motivational interviewing might look like this (in a Star Wars context)…
Q: I’ve heard you turned to the dark side of the force, what led to that change?
A: I felt so enraged by the Jedi’s strict rules and hierarchy, I wanted more freedom
Q: Is there anything you don’t like about the Sith?
A: Overstepping anyone to gain power, regardless of the circumstance, doesn’t feel right to me
Q: Are there any moral principles you’d hold above your frustration with the Jedi?
…
Only once someone is motivated to change is it useful to introduce strategies and suggestions of how they can change their behaviour.
How can the science of behaviour change help us reach our goals?
It starts with setting a self-concordant goal - something that aligns with our values, rather than a response to external pressures and demands.
When determining the behaviours that’ll help us meet that goal, the COM-B framework can help.
Consider whether you have developed necessary skills, have the opportunity to perform the behaviour, and consider how motivational strategies can increase your compliance. These factors can be manipulated. If you struggle to eat healthily, spending time learning how to cook delicious, healthy meals will improve your capacity. When planning to exercise, utilising equipment at a local park makes use of opportunities available.
It’s also clear that our environment (physical and social) affects what we pay attention to, and ultimately, how we decide to behave.
When designing for behaviour change, we can use this to our advantage.
Want to do yoga each morning? Keep a yoga mat rolled out next to your bed.
Want to hit the gym after work? Keep your towel, water and gear ready to go by the door before leaving.
Doing this helps our attention shift to the behaviours we want to do.
Want to reduce the time you spend watching TV? Unplug it after each use.
Want to reduce morning scrolling? Sign out of social media apps each night.
These changes will make behaviours seem less appealing when we make appraisals.
To improve further improve our chances of success, we need to “relieve the volitional burden of goal pursuit.” One way to do this is with implementation intentions. This involves putting systems in place to prevent distractions and carefully planning how we’ll continue to perform a behaviour e.g., what feature of the environment cues us, where and when the behaviour is performed. Specificity is important.
Finally, when guiding others to change behaviour, we need to show we care.
A collaborative conversation as part of motivational interviewing doesn’t happen without genuine care. Criticism isn’t met with increased motivation by chance. If you come across as accusatory, you’ll be met with defensiveness, as opposed to a willingness to learn and improve.
Thoughtfully questioning someone’s assumptions and carefully evaluating their process are essential, but there’s no substitute for believing in someone else.
Attaining Personal Goals: Self-Concordance Plus Implementation Intentions Equals Success
Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance.
The resolution solution: longitudinal examination of New Year's change attempts
Deciphering the puzzle of our personality with Brian Little (Transcript)
Rethinking your beliefs with Tara Westover (Transcript)