Jasmine B. MacDonald

Starter tips for changing behaviours

Around December and January every year, many of us start thinking about what we’d like to do differently in the year to come. We might think of things we’d like to do more of, such as exercising, drinking water, or practicing mindfulness. Or we might be looking to cut back on behaviours that are less desirable for us, such as drinking alcohol, smoking or vaping, or using electronic devices.

In psychology, the process of identifying behaviours that a person wants to change and ways to increase or decrease those behaviours is called behaviour modification.

Self-management is when individuals use behaviour modification principles to change their own behaviour.

In this article, I outline some foundational principles of behaviour modification and tips to help you successfully change your own behaviour:

1. Know exactly what the behaviour you want to change is
2. Know why you want to change this behaviour
3. Decide how to measure and record the behaviour
4. Establish a baseline for comparison
5. Set some goals
6. Decide how to reward yourself when you meet your goals.

Step 1: Know exactly what the behaviour you want to change is

In order to change a behaviour, you need to know exactly what the behaviour is. One trap people can fall into is thinking they know what behaviour they want to change and when they start trying to change their behaviour they realise it is actually a really fuzzy area of behaviour. For example, a New Year’s resolution such as ‘I am going to eat healthier’ is setting you up for frustration at best. You need to clearly define for yourself the behaviour and ensure that it is observable (research nerds call this operationalisation).

A good strategy here is to ask yourself ‘If someone were to see me eating healthily, what would that look like?’ You might decide what you really want is to eat more vegetables and fruits (i.e., you want to increase a desired behaviour). Alternatively, you might decide that you want to eat less chocolate (i.e., decrease an undesirable behaviour). Either way, write down exactly what the behaviour is, what it looks like, and what it is not (Can you eat chocolate coated strawberries? Loop hole!).

Step 2: Know why you want to change this behaviour

Spend some time thinking about why this specific behaviour is important to you and why you want to change it at this point in time. Alongside your written definition of the behaviour, write down the reasons you want to change this behaviour. These reasons will be useful for you to come back to when you have lower levels of motivation. More on motivation and reinforcement below.

Being able to clearly articulate to others what you are trying to do and why is also important. You will likely need the practical or emotional support of other people in your life to meet your goals. You might also need to firmly assert boundaries with people that know what you are trying to do but nevertheless may be acting in a way that does not respect your goals (e.g., giving you a hard time for not having an alcoholic drink at a social gathering).

Step 3. Decide how to measure and record the behaviour

To know whether you have successfully increased or decreased the behaviour, you need to measure it! Think about what the best aspect of the behaviour is to measure (e.g., distance) and the best unit of measurement (e.g., metres).

For example, if you are aiming to increase your running behaviour you could consider one or more of the following:

• Quantity: record the behaviour every time you go for a run (score 1 each run; record using pen and paper or an excel spreadsheet).
• Distance: record the distance you run in each running session (decide on unit: metres, kilometres, blocks in your neighbourhood; measure and record using a device like Fitbit or Apple Watch).
• Speed: record the average speed of each running session (kilometres per hour; measure and record using a device like Fitbit or Apple Watch, or calculate using the distance that you ran and the time spent running).
• Duration: record the time you spent running (minutes; measure with a stopwatch or calculate by recording the time you started and finished your run).
• Intensity: record average heart rate of each running session (beats per minute; measure and record using a device like Fitbit or Apple Watch).

Some considerations:

• Quantity might be a good option if you are not running very often. The other options may be better if you have established a pattern of running but are looking to increase your running in some way.
• You will be more likely to measure and record your behaviour if you make the process as simple as possible.
• Consider recording multiple units because this can lead to unexpected insights about your behaviour and help with motivation. For example, you might be aiming to increase your speed of running. On certain runs you may not meet that goal, but instead end up running further than you usually do. A win is a win folks – take it!
• Volume is another handy way to measure a behaviour such as amount of water consumed (e.g., mililitres or litres).
• The smaller the unit of measurement, the more precision and the greater potential for a sense of accomplishment. It is easier to run 100 metres further today than you did yesterday, it is a bigger challenge and less sustainable to run 1 kilometre further today than yesterday. Greater precision also comes with greater effort in measuring and recording the behaviour.
• What devices do you need to accurately measure and record your behaviour? Will you have these materials with you when you need them?
• There are some good apps that you can use to record your behaviours, some built-in on smartphones and some that you can download for free of for fee.

Step 4. Establish a baseline for comparison

The next step is to get an accurate idea of the extent to which you are currently performing the behaviour. This is an important step, do not skip it thinking you know how much you do the behaviour. If you are not already measuring and recording the behaviour, then you do not really know what you are currently doing. Humans are notoriously bad at assessing this kind of thing, especially for things like time spent doing stuff or quantity of consumption.

Now you know what your behaviour is and how you will measure and record it, spend about a week doing what you usually do and record the behaviour when you happen to do it. This way you will have a point of comparison to know if the goals and reinforcements you set up in the following steps are helping you change your behaviour. Note: the simple act of observing and recording the baseline behaviour is going to increase the likelihood of performing the behaviour, so you are already winning.

Step 5. Set some goals

You know what you want to do more or less of, but how much more or less? Goals are also important because meeting them means you get a reward! More about that in the next section.

Some tips and considerations:

• Set realistic and achievable goals
• Start small
  • Little wins over time add up and you are trying to establish good habits that are sustainable.
  • Going too hard, too soon is not sustainable and you will probably end up losing motivation and hope, or acquiring an injury if the behaviour is fitness related.
• Consider setting short-term and long-term goals
  • For example, a daily goal and weekly goal.
  • The threshold for weekly goals may increase as the weeks progress.
  • If you have a daily goal, I recommend aiming to complete the daily goal on only some of the days of the week (e.g., 3 out of 5). That way if you miss a day for a reason outside of your control, you can still meet the weekly goal.
• Learn from experience
  • Have you tried to change this behaviour in the past? How did that go?
  • What were some obstacles for you and how can you avoid or account for them this time around?
  • What times of the day, week or month might it be particularly hard to meet your goals?
  • Some examples of times that might throw off your routine or mean a temporary shift in priorities or capacity to stick to your new behaviour goals: school holidays, being unwell or recovering from a procedure, travelling, or celebrating special occasions like Christmas or New Years.
  • Make a plan ahead of time for how you can stick to your new behaviour or accept that you might need to pause your behaviour plans for a specific and temporary period of time and forgive yourself for that.
• Know what you can and cannot control
  • People often set goals that other people have the final say on. For example:
    • If you are a writer, having your work published is a great outcome. But it’s not a goal you have control over. Instead, your short-term goal could be to write 500 words a day on your current project and your long-term goal could specify how many chapters / projects you can complete a first full draft of per month.
    • Getting a promotion is also a great outcome but outside of your control. Instead, what are the specific goals you can realistically achieve that would increase the likelihood of you being promoted?
    • One behaviour people are often interested in changing is when they go to sleep. You don’t really have control over that either and trying to force yourself to sleep on command is likely to have the opposite effect. Instead, you can control the behaviours you engage in before going to bed and the time you get ready for and climb into bed. You can manipulate your environment and adjust your behaviours to make it more likely that you will be ready to sleep roughly when you want to be.
• Focus on improvement, not perfection
  • Aim for gradual improvement over time.
  • Expect occasional ‘relapses’ to old behavioural patterns to happen, especially during times where you are under stress.
  • Practice self-compassion when you don’t meet your goals and start fresh the next day.

Step 6. Decide how to reward yourself when you meet your goals

The consequences you experience as a result of performing a certain behaviour impact the likelihood that you will perform that same behaviour in the future. In psychology, this is referred to as operant conditioning.

The main thing for you to remember is to reinforce (or reward) yourself for doing the desired behaviour rather than punishing yourself for not doing the desired behaviour or for doing an undesirable behaviour.

It’s all about motivation! Humans seek out positive experiences and avoid negative ones. It is well-established in behavioural science that reward is more effective in changing human behaviour than punishment (this is the same in dog training!).

Reinforcement: any event that follows the behaviour and increases the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated.

Punishment: any consequence to a behaviour that decreases the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated.

There are two types of reinforcement and I would wager that: (a) you have heard of both before, and (b) that you thought the second was a kind of punishment. Popular media and culture has been lying to you, my friend.

Positive reinforcement: the consequence to the behaviour (e.g., going for a run) is adding something that the individual will find pleasurable (e.g., going out for brunch afterwards) to increase the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated.

Negative reinforcement: the consequence of the behaviour is removing something that the individual does not find pleasurable to increase the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated. For example, on the days when you go for a run you get a chore free day at home.

Keep in mind that what is a reward for one person may not be a reward for another. Even for yourself, something that is rewarding at one point in time is not going to have the same dopamine payoff at all times in the future. Variety is the spice of life. You need to change things up so you don’t habituate to your reward. I once taught a psychology student who lost interest in her once favourite sweet treat because she was using it as the only reward in her own self-management project. No-one needs this kind of loss in their life. Change it up!

One last thought. Make sure your reinforcement is in the same spirit as your desired behaviour. In other words, think about whether your choice of reinforcement could be an act of self-sabotage.

Book recommendation

A fantastic book that makes behaviour modification accessible and practical is Atomic Habits by James Clear. I have taught behaviour modification to psychology students in multiple Australian Universities. When I came across this book, I was impressed by the knowledge translation Clear does of technical behavioural science for a generalist audience.

I recently saw that Clear also has a class on the personal and professional development streaming service Master Class. I have not seen it yet, but I am sure it is awesome because the content from the book is great and Master Class is an awesome service.

Author note

I am sending you all the best vibes for behaviour change in a positive direction!

You can read other blog posts I have written and/or about my own psychology research on my website.

You might also enjoy my psychology podcast, Psych Attack.

• Mail
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Photo

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash