Last week I finished with this great quote and it is uplifting, motivating and it gives us a warm, fuzzy feeling that we can do better. But what happens when that feeling fades what keeps us going on the hard days when we are striving for our goals and trying to beat the me of yesterday. First point we have to recognise when searching for the commitment when motivation is low is that we are emotional beings.
We are persuaded by logic, yet moved by emotion. Some research shows that up to 90% of the decisions we make are based on emotion. Sure we use logic, but it is after the fact to justify our decisions to ourselves and to others. It is logic that sets the alarm at night to make sure we fit in our early morning exercise or ensure that we beat the mad morning dash but how often do we hit that snooze button as early morning emotions take over the previous night’s logic. Emotions convince us that even though we set the alarm, we really do deserve more sleep because we are so overworked at the moment, work is so stressful, the children have been sick, it’s cold outside, and so on.
Still not convinced? Well, let me ask you this:
If it is all about logic why are we not healthier as a nation?
Never before in history have we been so well-educated with regards to health and fitness; yet never before in history have we been so unwell, due to lifestyle-induced disease. It is tipped that Diabetes Type II will topple Cancer as Australia’s number one health burden in the near future. So it is not about logic, because we know to have a healthier lifestyle we need to eat less and move more.
So we need to find that feeling that is going to put the information into action. The book “Switch” by Dan and Chip Heath is about behaviour change when change is hard. Behaviour change is hard because for anything to change we have to start acting differently.
The book “Switch” looks at how we can coordinate this constant battle that rages inside of all of us between logic and emotion; how we can get these two forces working together and drive ourselves towards our ultimate goals.
The book explores a blueprint for behaviour change:
- Direction: Change is easier when you know where you are going and how you are going to get there.
- Motivate: Find the feeling. Knowing something isn’t enough to cause real change. Shrink the change so it is not so scary.
- Shape the Path: Tweak the environment. When the situation changes, the behaviour changes.
Next week I will look at a practical example of putting this into action.
