A cancer diagnosis can often make you sit up and notice all the less than ideal health habits you’ve acquired over the years. Fortunately, Cancer Lifeline offers many classes and programs that are aimed to help you on your path to a healthier lifestyle including gentle exercise, nutritional, artistic expression, improving sleep, and practicing mindfulness activities such as daily meditation. However, for many of us, it can be challenging to change our deep-rooted, familiar routines and stay consistent with new behaviors in the long-term. As a result, we may end up feeling guilty and ashamed when we slip up, despite our good intentions and efforts.
The good news is that, with a little help, you can do it! You can achieve long-lasting and successful behavior changes with a simple formula. Thanks to researchers like B.J. Fogg, founder of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University and the creator of Tiny Habits Academy, you can now follow some easy and effective tools to help you on the road to making your desired positive changes stick..
I was first introduced to the concept of forming habits with the Japanese term kaizen, which can be translated to “small steps for continual improvement”. Kaizen is an ancient philosophy based on the premise that “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. The idea is to reduce the end goal into small, manageable pieces, making them so tiny that the goal becomes effortless, not stressful, to accomplish.
B.J. Fogg takes Kaizen one step further to come up with a simple formula to assist in goal setting for effective change. You simply set a goal, tie it to an existing habit, connect the two behaviors, and celebrate your success.
Here’s an example:
The Goal: To start exercising on a regular basis. Perhaps you have a stationary bike that sits unused in your living room and your goal is to start using the bike.
The Anchor Behavior: Make a list of existing routines that you do once or more daily, at a specific moment in time. For example, soon after you awake, you brush your teeth. This is an existing habit that you don’t think twice about.
The New Behavior: You will ride your stationary bicycle for one minute. Yes, just one minute. Note: it’s important to make this a tiny goal so that you will actually do it.
Connect the two behaviors: Connect the desired (new) behavior to the anchor behavior: after you brush your teeth, you will ride your stationary bicycle for one minute. Your anchor then becomes the trigger for doing the new behavior. To begin with, only do the new behavior for a minute or less. Remember, the idea is to make this new habit so easy and pain-free that it is not stressful to do. Over time, gradually increase the time you engage in the new behavior.
Celebrate immediately: There’s one more piece. After you complete the new behavior, you might say, “Way to go!” or “Good Work!” to yourself as a way to encourage the new behavior. The expression of emotions helps wire your new habit in your brain, so it’s important to acknowledge your success.
The big take-aways:
- ANCHOR MOMENT – The anchor moment reminds you to do the new behavior.
- THE NEW BEHAVIOR – Do the new behavior immediately after the Anchor Moment.
- INSTANT CELEBRATION – Celebrate immediately after doing the new behavior.
You can use this formula for any new habit you’d like to create for yourself. Finally, you can make lasting changes that will become second nature to you. If you want more ideas for lasting change, check out the current Cancer Lifeline catalog. Visit us again in late summer to view our fall catalog and the new programs and be sure to register for the “Adopting Healthy Habits that Stick with Tiny Steps” class. Registration opens in late August.