such a thing. If you binge-eat, simply notice that you are eating more
calories than you should. If you waste time online, notice that you are
spending your life in a way that you do not want to.
The first step to changing bad habits is to be on the lookout for them. If
you feel like you need extra help, then you can try Pointing-and-Calling in
your own life. Say out loud the action that you are thinking of taking and
what the outcome will be. If you want to cut back on your junk food habit
but notice yourself grabbing another cookie, say out loud, “I’m about to eat
this cookie, but I don’t need it. Eating it will cause me to gain weight and
hurt my health.”
Hearing your bad habits spoken aloud makes the consequences seem
more real. It adds weight to the action rather than letting yourself
mindlessly slip into an old routine. This approach is useful even if you’re
simply trying to remember a task on your to-do list. Just saying out loud,
“Tomorrow, I need to go to the post office after lunch,” increases the odds
that you’ll actually do it. You’re getting yourself to acknowledge the need
for action—and that can make all the difference.
The process of behavior change always starts with awareness. Strategies
like Pointing-and-Calling and the Habits Scorecard are focused on getting
you to recognize your habits and acknowledge the cues that trigger them,
which makes it possible to respond in a way that benefits you.
Chapter Summary
With enough practice, your brain will pick up on the cues that
predict certain outcomes without consciously thinking about it.
Once our habits become automatic, we stop paying attention to
what we are doing.
The process of behavior change always starts with awareness.
You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them.
Pointing-and-Calling raises your level of awareness from a
nonconscious habit to a more conscious level by verbalizing your
actions.
The Habits Scorecard is a simple exercise you can use to become
more aware of your behavior.
5
The Best Way to Start a New Habit
I
N 2001
,
RESEARCHERS
in Great Britain began working with 248 people to build
better exercise habits over the course of two weeks. The subjects were
divided into three groups.
The first group was the control group. They were simply asked to track
how often they exercised.
The second group was the “motivation” group. They were asked not only
to track their workouts but also to read some material on the benefits of
exercise. The researchers also explained to the group how exercise could
reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and improve heart health.
Finally, there was the third group. These subjects received the same
presentation as the second group, which ensured that they had equal levels
of motivation. However, they were also asked to formulate a plan for when
and where they would exercise over the following week. Specifically, each
member of the third group completed the following sentence: “During the
next week, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on
[DAY] at [TIME] in [PLACE].”
In the first and second groups, 35 to 38 percent of people exercised at
least once per week. (Interestingly, the motivational presentation given to
the second group seemed to have no meaningful impact on behavior.) But
91 percent of the third group exercised at least once per week—more than
double the normal rate.
The sentence they filled out is what researchers refer to as an
implementation intention, which is a plan you make beforehand about when
and where to act. That is, how you intend to implement a particular habit.
The cues that can trigger a habit come in a wide range of forms—the feel
of your phone buzzing in your pocket, the smell of chocolate chip cookies,
the sound of ambulance sirens—but the two most common cues are time
and location. Implementation intentions leverage both of these cues.
Broadly speaking, the format for creating an implementation intention
is:
“When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.”
Hundreds of studies have shown that implementation intentions are
effective for sticking to our goals, whether it’s writing down the exact time
and date of when you will get a flu shot or recording the time of your
colonoscopy appointment. They increase the odds that people will stick
with habits like recycling, studying, going to sleep early, and stopping
smoking.
Researchers have even found that voter turnout increases when people
are forced to create implementation intentions by answering questions like:
“What route are you taking to the polling station? At what time are you
planning to go? What bus will get you there?” Other successful government
programs have prompted citizens to make a clear plan to send taxes in on
time or provided directions on when and where to pay late traffic bills.
The punch line is clear: people who make a specific plan for when and
where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through. Too
many people try to change their habits without these basic details figured
out. We tell ourselves, “I’m going to eat healthier” or “I’m going to write
more,” but we never say when and where these habits are going to happen.
We leave it up to chance and hope that we will “just remember to do it” or
feel motivated at the right time. An implementation intention sweeps away
foggy notions like “I want to work out more” or “I want to be more
productive” or “I should vote” and transforms them into a concrete plan of
action.
Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is
clarity. It is not always obvious when and where to take action. Some
people spend their entire lives waiting for the time to be right to make an
improvement.
Once an implementation intention has been set, you don’t have to wait
for inspiration to strike. Do I write a chapter today or not? Do I meditate
this morning or at lunch? When the moment of action occurs, there is no
need to make a decision. Simply follow your predetermined plan.
The simple way to apply this strategy to your habits is to fill out this
sentence:
I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].
Meditation. I will meditate for one minute at 7 a.m. in my
kitchen.
Studying. I will study Spanish for twenty minutes at 6 p.m. in my
bedroom.
Exercise. I will exercise for one hour at 5 p.m. in my local gym.
Marriage. I will make my partner a cup of tea at 8 a.m. in the
kitchen.
If you aren’t sure when to start your habit, try the first day of the week,
month, or year. People are more likely to take action at those times because
hope is usually higher. If we have hope, we have a reason to take action. A
fresh start feels motivating.
There is another benefit to implementation intentions. Being specific
about what you want and how you will achieve it helps you say no to things
that derail progress, distract your attention, and pull you off course. We
often say yes to little requests because we are not clear enough about what
we need to be doing instead. When your dreams are vague, it’s easy to
rationalize little exceptions all day long and never get around to the specific
things you need to do to succeed.
Give your habits a time and a space to live in the world. The goal is to
make the time and location so obvious that, with enough repetition, you get
an urge to do the right thing at the right time, even if you can’t say why. As
the writer Jason Zweig noted, “Obviously you’re never going to just work
out without conscious thought. But like a dog salivating at a bell, maybe
you start to get antsy around the time of day you normally work out.”
There are many ways to use implementation intentions in your life and
work. My favorite approach is one I learned from Stanford professor BJ
Fogg and it is a strategy I refer to as habit stacking.
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