We learned last week that habits
eliminate the need for willpower. We are what we repeatedly do…and those things
are our habits. So lets get busy making or breaking habits!
What’s
the secret to making or breaking a habit? To change our habits, we first have
to figure out ourselves. If we know ourselves we’re able to manage ourselves
better!
I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about habits...where they come from, how we change them and how we break them!
Here’s what I've learned…when we try to form
a new habit, we set an expectation for ourselves. So it’s really important to
understand how we respond to expectations!
There are really two kinds of
expectations:
Outer…work deadlines, home tasks
Inner…keeping a new year's resolution…stop
napping so much
Studies show that just about everyone
falls into one of these 4 categories when it comes to responding to those
inner and outer expecatitions. Here they are!
Upholders respond easliy to
both outer expectations and inner expectations.
Questioners questions all
expectations, and will meet an expectations only if they believe it’s justified.
Obligers respond easliy to
outer expectation but struggle to meet inner expectations.
Rebels resist all
expectations, outer and inner alike.
Just what is your tendency? It effects
the way we see the world so It has enormous consequences for our habits.
Upholders easily
respond to outer and inner expectations. They want to know what’s expected of
them, and then they meet those expectations. They avoiding letting themselves
down. Others can rely on upholders and they can rely on themselves too. They
are self-directed and have very little trouble meeting resolutions. They don’t
like to break the rules…so they’ve got to know the rules! Upholders find it easy to
cultivate new habits.
Questioners question
ALL expectations, and respond to an expectation only if it makes sense. They
are motivated by logic and reason. They resist doing anything that lacks
purpose. Questioners resist rules for
rules’ sake. They are intellectually engaged and when there’s enough basis for
an expectation they’ll follow it, if not, they won’t. Sometimes they suffer
form analysis paralysis. Too many
questions about the nutritional plan unanswered…so should I follow it, or do my
own thing? They can reject experts’ opinions in favor of their own conclusions.
Questioners will stick to
a habit if they feel it’s useful…if not, they won’t!
Obligers meet outer
expectations, but struggle to meet inner expectations. Like…I will stay on
program for my team mate, or for the competition, or for Letha…but on my own, I
fail. Obligers make GREAT colleagues,
family members and friends because they excel at outer expectations. Because
they resist inner expectations, it’s hard for them to self-motivate. They depend
on external accountability for fear of letting other people down. Promises made
to yourself can be broken, but not to another person! They make time for other people’s
priorities at the expense of their own. Obligers have trouble setting up new habits for themselves.
The key for them… external accountability!
Rebels resist all expectations, outer and
inner alike. They want to be FREE and
don’t want anyone telling them what to do! Rebels work toward their own goals
in their own ways. Rebels place high value on being authentic and bring unbridled
spirit to what they do. Telling a
rebel what to do sometimes gets them to do just the opposite! Rebels need to
be given information and time to come up with the conclusions on their own.
They say “life controlled by habits is dead.” Truth is, most rebels wouldn't
probably participate in the team challenge. And if they did, they are fighting
me in their heads every week! Rebels resist habits but can embrace habit like behaviors by tying them
to their own choices!
Studies show that most
people by a huge margin are questioners or obligers. I would think that would
be true of this group too. Knowing our tendencies will help us make
and keep habits in a way that make sense to us!
There
is not a tendency that is more successful or brings about more change than
another…it’s just knowing thyself! Common
theme at The Healthy Weigh isn’t it??? Know thyself!
An upholder
exercises regularly because it’s on her to do list.
A questioner studies the benefits of exercise and is highly motivated to keep going.
A questioner studies the benefits of exercise and is highly motivated to keep going.
An obliger
sets up exercise with a friend because she always needs someone else to follow through.
A rebel keeps at it because she feels free while she’s doing it and
she can set her own schedule!
So we know ourselves better…it’s time
to forge ahead. It’s time to look at some habit building basics, and here’s your
first one.
We
manage what we monitor. That’s exactly why it says on the
front of your food and exercise record…"A recent study found that people who use a food diary lose twice the weight of those who do not track their foods."
We’ve got this fun little 21 day
challenge to participate in…and hey, what’s up with the 21 day thing anyway? Is that a myth? Can we change a
habit or make a new one in 21 days?
Well, I did a little research…
Maxwell Maltz was a
plastic surgeon in the 1950s when he began noticing a strange pattern among his
patients.
When Dr. Maltz would perform an operation — like a nose job, for example — he found that it would take the patient about 21 days to get used to seeing their new face. Similarly, when a patient had an arm or a leg amputated, Maltz noticed that the patient would sense a phantom limb for about 21 days before adjusting to the new situation.
These experiences
prompted Maltz to think about his own adjustment period to changes and new
behaviors, and he noticed that it also took himself about 21 days to form a new
habit. Maltz wrote about these experiences and said, “These, and many other
commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21
days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell.”
In 1960, Maltz published
that quote and his other thoughts on behavior change in a book called Psycho-Cybernetics The book went on to become an blockbuster hit, selling more
than 30 million copies.
And that’s when the problem started.
In the decades that
followed, Maltz’s work influenced nearly every major “self-help” professional
from Zig Ziglar to Tony Robbins. And as more people recited Maltz’s story —
like a very long game of “Telephone” — people began to forget that he said “a
minimum of about 21 days” and shortened it to, “It takes 21 days to form a new
habit.”
And that’s how society
started spreading the common myth that it takes 21 days to form a new habit
It makes sense why the
“21 Days” myth would spread. It’s easy to understand. The time frame is short
enough to be inspiring, but long enough to be believable. And who wouldn’t like
the idea of changing your life in just three weeks?
But the problem is that
Maltz was simply observing what was going on around him and wasn’t making a
statement of fact. He made sure to say
that this was the minimum amount of time needed to adapt to a new change.
So what’s the real
answer? How long does it actually take to form a new habit? Is there any
science to back this up? And what does all of this mean for you and me?
How Long it Really Takes
to Build a New Habit??
In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, A
research team decided to figure out just how long it actually takes to form a
habit.
The study examined the
habits of 96 people over a 12-week period. Each person chose one new habit for
the 12 weeks and reported each day on whether or not they did the behavior and
how automatic the behavior felt.
Some people chose simple
habits like “drinking a bottle of water with lunch.” Others chose more
difficult tasks like “running for 15 minutes before dinner.” At the end of the
12 weeks, the researchers analyzed the data to determine how long it took each
person to go from starting a new behavior to automatically doing it.
The answer?
On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior
becomes automatic — 64 days to be exact. ( FYI The Team Challenge is 71 days
long, but from today, it's 64 days!!!) And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary
widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances.
In other words, if you
want to set your expectations appropriately, the truth is that it will probably
take you anywhere from two months to eight months to build a new behavior into
your life — not 21 days. However...you can't get to 64 days without starting with 21...so we begin our 21 day challenge TODAY!
Research shows that
habits in four areas do most to boost feelings of self-control and, remember
from last week, strengthen the
foundation of all our habits. Here’s what they are:
Sleep
Move
Eat and drink right
De-clutter
So...our 21 challenge begins! I'm choosing one of the areas to strengthen your foundation and that's keeping your food record for 21 days. Every morsel of food and drink that passes through your lips needs to be written down daily and...
One other of three foundations builders becomes your second choice.
We passed out #healthyweighhabit cards. Each day should have two check marks, two stickers, two of something recognizing the two choices you're making to monitor behavior for the next 21 days.
Keep your cards and turn them in at the end of these 21 days and we will have a drawing at noon and at 6 PM for a Fit Bit! We celebrated our very first winning teams and gave them the trophy to take home and decorate reprinting their team...this challenge is the great pumpkin!
Noon: Team "Lovin' The Change; Watch Us" Bev and Becky with a 4.93% of weight loss
6 PM: Team "Thinspired" Tracie and Christy with a 5.76% of weight loss!
Congratulation to you and so many others with AMAZING weight loss for the week!
I offered up our first challenge for the week:
- Start your #healthyweighhabit card
- Not One Stinking Piece of Halloween Candy!
We are off to an amazing start with this Fall Team Challenge! New Habits are going to be made and old ones are going to be broken, that I'm sure of! Here's to another week of monitoring and taking great care of yourselves!
Always encouraging you,
Letha
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