Behavioral Change

Happy New Year! The holiday parties are over, the cookies have been eaten, and that can only mean one thing: It’s time to make your New Year’s resolutions. But this year’s going to be different. You’re actually going to succeed in this annual ritual of behavioral change. Why? Because this year you’re going to be strategic. Before we dive in, two caveats in case you’re reading this after January 1st:… Read More »9 Ways to Actually Stick to Your New Year’s Resolution

Isaac Newton’s first law of motion states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest. A similar law exists for human productivity and behavioral change: A person who is moving in the right direction tends to keep moving in the right direction, and a person who is stuck tends to remain stuck. Actually, I left something out. Newton’s… Read More »You Can Build Momentum

New behaviors require willpower, and there’s no trick or technique that eliminates the need for willpower. But we can reduce the amount of willpower required to perform new behaviors using strategy. And one of the best strategies we can use is to reduce the number of decisions involved in performing the new behavior. This is critical because making decisions is mentally taxing, and we need to reserve our mental strength… Read More »Get Clear On When, Where, And How

Most behavioral change begins “tomorrow.” We say to ourselves things like: “I’ll start working out tomorrow.” “I’ll quit eating junk food tomorrow.” “I’ll begin that project tomorrow.” “I’ll read instead of watching TV tomorrow.” “I’ll make time to meditate tomorrow.” And the biggest lie of all: “It’ll be easier tomorrow.” Of course, when tomorrow arrives, we find another reason to delay. Tomorrow is always tomorrow, which means that the mythical… Read More »Don’t Start Tomorrow