Behavior #2: Build habits and routines

Health

Jan 2

For each of the Rules of Health, we want to build a script of sorts, a series of steps that automates our behavior so we can abide by the Rules regularly and without undue effort.

Much is made of the difficulty of doing so, especially in the health and fitness realm, yet habits are merely behaviors that have been rewarded with enough regularity to persist. This means you must do two things to build a habit: enable the desired behavior and reward yourself for having performed.

Enabling the desired behavior is the process of removing barriers to action: ensuring you have the time available, the accessories and tools at hand, and a meaningful and recurring cue to begin. In short hand, it’s removing potential excuses — identifying anything that could get in the way of performance and eliminating it with extreme prejudice. This is the calendar slot marked “Workout”, laying out your workout clothes the night before, setting your alarm, and having your workouts written and accessible. This is buying the right foods at the supermarket, knowing what you’re going to make for dinner before you get hungry, and having the pots, pans, and spatulas at the ready. This is throwing away your takeout menus.

Reward is the intrinsic or extrinsic “prize” you get for completing the behavior. Exercise grants you endorphins, a sense of accomplishment, reduced anxiety, and with regular performance, body composition change. It may give you the regard of your peers, and coupled with sufficient character and a solid diet, the regard of your potential romantic partners. (It may also grant you a chocolate protein shake if you’re unwilling to hang your hat on long-term rewards.)

For each Rule you need to follow, build your script. Decide what you will do, when you will do it, what will cue you to start. Then, methodically list and eliminate those things that could stop you. Finally, reward yourself, extrinsically (protein shake) if necessary, and then intrinsically (with the correlates of wellbeing) as time goes on.