We are talking a lot these days about having a healthy lifestyle, eating healthy, exercising, not stressing to much and practising hobbies we enjoy. And I guess many of you read and search for this kind of information. But sometimes I see people whose goals fail or they are having a hard time changing an unhealthy behavior. That is because the way we formulate our goals is not always correct and there are many factors in our environment and in our mind that subconsciously sabotage us.

In this article I will provide you with a simple method to create your goal and stick to it, created by an expert –Dr. BJ. Fogg - on changing human behavior.

Before we dive into the 3 steps in this formula, I want to clarify the term 'behavior'. In psychological terms, when I talk about behavior I am referring to a type of person in a certain context trying to achieve something. For example a woman worried about her weight trying to become slimmer.

Clearing that up, the steps from the formula are:

1. Get specific with the behavior you are targeting

Being specific means asking yourself what behavior you want to change. Let's look at an example: you want to lose weight. That is great, but what does that imply actually? Going to the gym, eating less sweets, more vegetables? Losing weight is a big goal, so you have to think about what are the specific behaviors that you can do and write them down. Set reachable goals, like going to the gym 2 days a week at 7pm for 30 minutes each session.

2. Make it easy

Fogg method says that simplicity changes behavior. Why? Because if you start off by hitting the gym 1 hour every day, your body gets tired and also your mind will refuse to do the hard work after a while. So start small.

In case of weight loss and exercising – if we are talking about the topic- you can make a plan for simple exercises in the beginning, so your body and mind start to get adjusted to them and consider them an easy task. It will be much easier to persevere in this if the exercises are perceived as easy and enjoyable. Note: this takes time and it is not a fast method to change behavior, but instead a healthier one that can help you turn that behavior into a habit, meaning a behavior you do every day without stressing about it.

3. Trigger the behavior

What will help or prompt the behavior occur? We need a trigger because our mind is an expert on tricking us. How many times have you said to yourself: “I'll do that later” or “I am too busy today”. We find excuses to not do the behavior, and this is why very important to make that behavior an easy one so that you do not oppose it so much.

So how can you do this? Well, a trigger can have different forms, like a notification on your phone, a text message, or even natural ones like your stomach growling. In order for triggers to work, we have to: a) notice the trigger, b) associate the trigger with our target behavior, and c) set a time for the trigger when we are both motivated and able to do the behavior.

For me, for example, I wanted to drink more water. What I did was created my trigger after another behavior occurred – here after I started working on my computer – I put a bottle of water on my table. So the bottle was the trigger, which I saw and I associated it with my intention of drinking more water and I did it every time I took breaks from work. For our exercising example, you can set a notification associated with doing your exercises, but create the trigger when you know you are able and willing to do it – maybe in the morning or evening when you are free and are not very tired. Think about these 3 things: seeing the trigger, associating it with what you want to do and strategically place it when you want and are able to do your targeted behavior. And don't forget: don't be harsh with yourself, instead congratulate yourself after you do the behavior.
 

Healthy living implies applying these little healthy behaviors you can do. So remember every time you want to change something in your lifestyle related to health, make a plan with these 3 steps. Define specific behaviors (like drink more water, do kegel exercises every evening, do 10 push-ups every day) that will contribute to a bigger concept – being healthier, make them easy to do so you persevere, and place their timing right so you are able to do them.

This article was also published in Spanish here.