Track Behaviour to List Pros Cons
Gather facts to assess the benefit and harm of your actions prior to altering your habits.
Changing an unhealthy behavior can be difficult. Precontemplators are in a stage of denial. Fact finding and reflection are helpful processes in successful change.
Life change is frustrating; things we try to keep constant change despite our best efforts and life changes we want to make refuse to budge. We get older though we do our best to remain young. We love the job we have, but we're downsized. But the healthy life changes we try to make, such as losing weight, stopping smoking, and saving more money, all seem to have a mind of their own, frustrating our attempts to change.
We lose ten pounds on a doctor's advice only to gain 15 back within a year. We stop smoking at the insistence of family, but we smoke just one during a crisis at work and are back to a pack a day. Why is it so hard to change those areas of life that are good for us?
Last week, in Lose Weight for Good, I began a review of James Prochaska's book Changing for Good. Prochaska and his co-authors identify six stages or cycles that characterize a successful life change:
- Precontemplation
- Contemplation
- Preparation
- Action
- Maintenance
- Termination
When a person recognizes the stage of change they are in, and uses one of the appropriate processes for that stage, their chances of a successful life change improve. The National Cancer Institute has found programs based on Prochaska's model are more than twice as effective as standard programs in helping smokers quit for 18 months.
Let's take a closer look at the first stage, Precontemplation. If people who care about you have been trying to get you to change a lifestyle behavior such as smoking, alcohol use, or overeating, but you don't believe you have a problem, then you're probably in the Precontemplation stage. In your mind, they have the problem, not you. You have everything under control.
Someone in the Precontemplation stage isn't aware of or denies there is a problem. Do you get angry or blame circumstances outside your control when confronted with a behavior? Does this happen frequently? If so, perhaps it's time to step back and reflect on your situation.
An effective strategy for Precontemplators is fact-finding and reflection. If you're 35 pounds overweight, is there medical research to indicate you are at increased risk of illness? If you just have "a couple" of drinks each day, keep track of them. Is "a couple" really 3 or 4? Again, what risks are you taking with this level of consumption?
As you focus on the facts of your situation, be aware of the benefits of your current behavior. Start a list of the pros and cons of making a change. If the pros don't significantly outnumber the cons, you're not likely to change successfully.
Now move on to the Contemplation stage in Serious About Change.
