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Five Things You Need to Know About Effective Habit Change

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Ian Newby-Clark, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada who studies habit change.

As a psychology professor who has studied habit change for several years, I have some advice about effective habit change. My advice is general. It applies to any habit that you would like to change. My advice is based on my research and that of my colleagues.

1. Work on One Habit at a Time. If you work on changing more than one habit at a time you run a serious risk of overwhelming yourself and changing no habits at all. Consider Jim: Jim has resolved to exercise more and he has resolved to accomplish more at work. What could Jim be thinking? He’s going to fill his already busy schedule with regular exercise. Fine. But, he somehow thinks that he will also get more done at work? I hope he’s also decided to cut down on his sleep …

2. Create a Plan and Write it Down. It is not enough to say to yourself, “I am going to get more done at work.” Think about it this way: What if you asked a randomly selected working-person, “Are you trying to get more done at work?” Almost everybody would say, “Yes, of course.” And the response would be the same if you asked about exercising more often, eating better, or paying more attention to international affairs. It’s in our nature to want to do better. We almost always want to do better. But wanting isn’t enough. You must make a plan. Write it down. Be as specific as possible. Does Jim plan to go into work early or stay late? Will he eat at his desk? Will he exercise good email and phone discipline? Jim needs to create a plan and write it down.

3. Refine Your Plan. Now you need to refine your plan. In particular, you need to be realistic. Put your plan in a drawer for a day or so and come back to it with fresh eyes. Look at each sentence and ask yourself, “Really? I can do that?” Find someone who will give you an honest opinion. Have her read your plan and point out the bits that seem a bit pie-in-the-sky. You must do this because of what years of research shows: People’s plans are far too optimistic. In fact, in one study I showed that people’s ‘realistic’ plans for exercising more often are virtually the same as their ‘best case scenario’ plans. In other words, people think that everything is going to turn out as well as it possibly can. Well, I don’t know what world you live in, but in mine things rarely turn out in the best possible way. So, to avoid disappointment and discouragement, cast a critical eye on your plan and make sure that it is truly realistic. In the case of Jim, he should question the part of his plan that has him going in early and staying late everyday—even on Friday!

4. Make Mini-Plans. You’ve worked on your plan and it is much improved. You’ve taken out all of the bits about you leaping tall buildings in a single bound and cooking a three course meal at the same time. But having a good plan isn’t enough. You have to make mini-plans (research psychologists call them ‘implementation intentions’). For example, Jim plans to go into work an hour early on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. He has also plans to stay late on Wednesday. How, precisely, will he change his work hours? Truly, the devil is in the details.

Jim must mini-plan. For the days that he plans to go in early, he should create a mini-plan the night before. He could tell himself: “When the alarm goes off at five, I will shower, get dressed, drink my breakfast shake, and drive to work.” For Wednesday nights, he could tell himself, “When it’s 5:30, I will eat a quick snack and work for another 2 hours.” Forming a mini-plan seems like such a simple thing. And it is. But, over and over again, researchers (led by Peter Gollwitzer) have shown the power of mini-plans to bridge the gap between wanting to get something done and getting it done.

5. Repeat! Repeat! Repeat! You’ve heard this one before too, but it bears, err, repeating. Habits are behaviors that we do over and over again. They become almost automatic. How much thought did you put into your last habitual behavior? Not much, right? It kind of happened just by itself. Now that you have your refined plan and you have your mini-plans, it is time to make your new habit almost automatic. And the only way to do it is by repeating and repeating. And repeating. That’s because psychologists have shown that repeating a behavior over and over again means that it happens automatically or almost automatically. So, the great thing about repeating the behavior is that, eventually, you won’t really have to make yourself repeat it. The new behavior will just kind of happen on its own.

So, there you have it: Five things you need to know about effective habit change. I hope that you find it useful when working on changing a habit. And let’s wish Jim the best of luck too.

Read more about habits by Professor Ian Newby-Clark at his blog, Bad Habits.

If you liked this article, please bookmark it on del.icio.us or vote for it on Digg. I’d appreciate it. :)

Five Things You Need to Know About Effective Habit Change

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Ian Newby-Clark, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada who studies habit change.

So, there you have it: Five things you need to know about effective habit change. I hope that you find it useful when working on changing a habit. And let’s wish Jim the best of luck too.

Read more about habits by Professor Ian Newby-Clark at his blog, Bad Habits.

If you liked this article, please bookmark it on del.icio.us or vote for it on Digg. I’d appreciate it. :)

Posted on 5 November 2007 in Habits |
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Comments (29)

Tina Su - Think Simple. Be Decisive. Says:

November 5th, 2007, 6:10 am

I love this topic. It’s been repeated so many times before, yet we are still finding it challenging to break habits. For me, developing the habit to wake up early has been challenging. I can do it for a few days, even two weeks, but overtime, I some how always fall back to my regular routine. This is because I like to stay up late. I get super energetic at night and end up getting a lot done. Any advice for me, Ian?

The other thing I’d like to add for effective habit change is to Tell people about it. I find that it really helps me to change by telling people about my plans. Especially, to people who’s opinions I value.

Thanks!

Love & Gratitude,
Tina
Think Simple. Be Decisive.
~ Productivity, Creativity & Happiness

Craig Harper Says:

November 5th, 2007, 7:23 am

Great Post Leo! Particularly agree with:
“You must make a plan. Write it down. Be as specific as possible. Does Jim plan to go into work early or stay late? Will he eat at his desk? Will he exercise good email and phone discipline? Jim needs to create a plan and write it down”.
It’s impossible to get to your destination without a roadmap.
Craig.

Mike Pedersen Golf Says:

November 5th, 2007, 7:34 am

Wow! The new look is great Leo! No links back for commentors now :(

Best,
Mike
Mike Pedersen Golf

Douglas Woods Says:

November 5th, 2007, 7:42 am

These are great tips for breaking habits. I especially like the advice to repeat, repeat repeat ….

Thanks
Doug

http://www.dougwoods.com

Leo Says:

November 5th, 2007, 7:48 am

@Mike Pedersen: Thanks for the comment … the links back to commenters will be fixed … sorry for the inconvenience.

Also, just to clarify … this is a guest post … I didn’t write it. :)

Balfour Says:

November 5th, 2007, 9:02 am

That’s it–I’m changing my November Challenge (see Forums) to just one Challenge instead of two, effective immediately. And, I’m going to look closely at implementing the rest of the research-based advice in this post too.

Great new look and organization for the site! I really like the clustered popular posts at the bottom of the page with the single link at the top of the page.

Alex Corroborant Says:

November 5th, 2007, 10:28 am

New format bug: printing to pdf generates an infinite number of blank pages at the end of the text. Clicking the “print” button does the same (preparing page 99, preparing page 100, etc, forever). Win XP pro is the OS. I would send you an email, but can’t find it.

zero255zero Says:

November 5th, 2007, 13:12 pm

Yes, one thing at a time.

http://www.zero255zero.com

Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah) Says:

November 5th, 2007, 13:50 pm

Great post! I think the most important thing here is to be realistic about it all. We tend to overestimate what we’re capable of achieving, which is why every construction project somehow manages to go over budget or over the planned time.

It’s better to at least have a margin of safety when you’re setting out to do something major and to break it down into small steps you can realistically achieve.

XIIIzen Says:

November 5th, 2007, 14:45 pm

Nice post!. Seting goals is cool but as it has been said before one at a time, after all it just takes a month to gt a good habit. if you keep up you get nice 12 habits in a year!. For a couple more one can become just what we want to be!

It’s just patience and keep ourselves motivated!

CaliKat Says:

November 5th, 2007, 17:40 pm

I heard this at my gym:

“It takes one month to break a bad habit, two months to make a good habit.”

Edward Palonek Says:

November 5th, 2007, 19:05 pm

Edward Palonek: Just to keep in mind that habits take about twenty one days to kick. Long rooted habits can take allot longer. Edward Palonek http://www.palonek.com/
Keep in mind, habits make majority of our life from brushing your teeth to how you drive a car. They are integral part of us and should be managed accordingly.
Palonek.

skyz Says:

November 5th, 2007, 20:30 pm

i figured out when i was about 12 that habits are what make you or break you - i am fortunate in that i do not have an addictive personality so habits are not that hard to break nor are good habits that hard to implement - i used to have anger issues (the righteous indignation type) but i got over it - now i am developing the habit of being as kind and polite as possible to everyone i meet - i intend to be a world class charmer -

Thao Says:

November 5th, 2007, 21:12 pm

Yes, I try making mini plans for what to do in the morning, but when the alarm goes off at 5 AM, I tend to forget about my plan and just hit the snooze bottom as I continue to sleep for another hour or so….

Romano Says:

November 6th, 2007, 3:17 am

Grazie mille : many thanks

Mark Says:

November 6th, 2007, 7:11 am

Ah love this post. It just so hard to change you habit ain’t it? Ill give this a try

Cheers,
http://markrega.freehostia.com

Douglas Woods Says:

November 6th, 2007, 8:35 am

One of the problems would seem to be that we have so many bad habits that we need to break. How can a person identify which habit is really a bad one and how can they find ways to break it?
Is it best to simply try to stop a bad habit or is it better to replace a bad habit with a good one?

Doug
http://www.dougwoods.com

wealthy_1 Says:

November 6th, 2007, 13:53 pm

It is so true that we can only focus, really focus on goal at a time.

Rae Says:

November 6th, 2007, 14:30 pm

Thao: I have a thought about getting up in the morning. Perhaps changing the alarm might be a way to help the change seem more real either by getting a clock that slowly lights the bedroom or one that uses the sounds of the sea or something more gentle than the usual bwwwwat.

I do know one thing about changing habits, initially constant vigilence and tracking are key, write it down, put a penny in a jar.

Gisele Says:

November 6th, 2007, 22:11 pm

That is a great post. My ‘habit change’ for 2007 was to control both email and mail subscriptions.

After coming back from back to back conferences last fall (November and December), I realized that every time I came back I had to deal with hundreds of emails I mostly deleted and mail (and junk mail) I never read. Not only was this a waste of my time, but throwing out mail that I didn’t want was bad for the environment.

* In January 2007, I started deleted my email address from all the lists of newsletters I never read or those that no longer served a purpose.

* I then did the same for mail that I was getting and no longer needed because I had changed direction in my business. I called or mailed all those companies and requested they remove me from their list.

* I then requested that my mail man (or woman) no longer leave any un-sollicitated mail in my box (which accounted for 30-50% of my mail).

* Finally, I cut back my “mail sorting” from a daily activity to a weekly activity.

It took me several months to change my approach to mail and email, but I can reflect on this year and proudly say that I’ve cut back the mail I deal with on a weekly base by at least 65%. In terms of emails, I only kept the newsletters I read or scan. Everything else was gone.

I feel great about these decisions, because it frees up my time for better things.

Changing habits is not easy, but it can be done in baby steps.

Once again … great article!

Gisele
http://www.mybeautymatch.com

Susan Says:

November 7th, 2007, 9:07 am

Skyz,
How did you get over your anger issues? What was your plan to develop the habit of being as kind and polite as possible? Please share me your game plan.

-Thanks,
Susan

skyz Says:

November 7th, 2007, 12:57 pm

hi susan: i worked with a therapist with the anger - it became clear that i was wasting A LOT of energy - energy that could be used in a positive direction - anger energy was like throwing good money after bad - now when i start to get angry i feel kind of sick so i immediately back up and out of the situation that is making me angry - if it needs to be addressed i give myself some time before addressing it - if not i just delete it from my mind - as for the kind and polite i use mental role models - like the dalai lama for kindness and audrey hepburn/grace kelly for politeness - every interaction i have i start by saying good morning/evening - thank you for seeing me/helping me and i notice a nice outfit new haircut anything for a legitimate compliment - good manners can take you places beauty brains and money can’t and besides it makes both you and the recepient feel good - today at whole foods market a worker went in search of my preferred brand of bread and as he handed it to me he said ‘for the princess and the pea’ (it was underneath all the others) and he blushed when i smiled and thanked him - practice on everyone no exceptions - hope this serves you susan thanks for noticing my post :)

WellnessAid Says:

November 8th, 2007, 3:32 am

… Good four principles. I would add a fifth one:

5. Start with a habit that is in the area of your highest life priority at this time

For example, don’t try to quit smoking if all your concerns at the moment are about your money debt. You only will be more frustrated and most likely will fail.

Spend some time first addressing your money habits. In some short time (a week or so) you will notice that your priorities begin to shift and priority of your debt problem will probably lessen.

It is quite possible that at the same time you will get relatively more concerned about something else, possibly smoking.

Listen to yourself!

This process is likely to go in circles. You will keep coming back to the same issues again and again, each time on a new, higher level. The main areas of our lives, from health perspective, are outlined on my website: http://www.wellnessaid.com. Try to find the area that is the priority in your life right now…

Good luck!

Erik Mallinson Says:

November 9th, 2007, 11:06 am

lol. habits. nuns.

Leo Says:

November 9th, 2007, 15:49 pm

@Erik: Lol … I was wondering if anyone would comment on that. :)

Sometimes I make little jokes just to make myself smile. Forgive my indulgences.

Face-Natural.com Says:

November 25th, 2007, 14:06 pm

Timely post–this is definitely the time of year for making changes. Personally, I’m hard wired to be a night owl and have just accepted the most of the world is on a different schedule. Any coping skills in that department would be greatly appreciated.

Clara