Beyond IBD: transcending chronic illness

Last week I talked about creating the right frame of mind to start a new behaviour or change an old one. Hopefully you’ve moved past the first hurdle, getting started. But now you need to overcome those day-to-day resistances in order to turn your new behaviour into a habit.

Why do we fail?

In The Now Habit, Neil Fiore explains that our resistance to action, our procrastination, is not due to laziness or lack of discipline. He says that there is always thinking and reasoning (although we may not be conscious of it) directing our behaviour. If we can be more aware of this thinking then we can recognise when it is flawed, and we can develop strategies to overcome negative thinking. Fiore explains much more than this, but let’s apply this simple summary to the matter of starting a new exercise program.

On the surface we might make excuses like ‘I don’t have time’ or ‘it’s not important’. We discussed last week that making a conscious choice to change a behaviour will help overcome initial resistance. But under the surface we may be avoiding our exercise program because we are afraid: we have failed before and don’t want to fail again; we think that we are too unfit and it will be too hard; etc. If we identify these thoughts and examine them objectively we would see that they are flawed: our success or failure is completely determined by our behaviour (which we control) and we can only get fit by exercising (which can be made as easy as we need it to be to start).

Leo Babauta at Zen Habits suggests
that the main obstacles to establishing a regular exercise habit are:

• We make it too difficult for ourselves by starting with big goals that are hard to sustain
• We try to tackle too many goals at once and cannot maintain the necessary focus
• We don’t give ourselves good motivators (such as keeping a log, joining a group, rewarding success)

So how do we succeed?

After creating the right frame of mind, you are ready to practice your good health habits. Here are my top tips.

1. One achievable goal

You want to maximise your chance of success. Zen Habits advocates tackling one goal at a time so that you can give that goal your full focus. You should also make your goals achievable according to your circumstances. If you are sick then it might be a big achievement to simply get out of bed and take a walk around your yard. The important thing is you are establishing a habit (ideally at the same time each day) and you can build on this as you get stronger.

2. Measure your success

Keep a log of your success and feel proud when you stick to your resolution. Most importantly, don’t berate yourself if you slip or miss a day. Negative self-talk will only set off a cycle of negativity and further avoidance as we discussed last week. Remember that each moment is an opportunity to make a different choice. As in now. And now. You get the idea.

3. Stop thinking

That’s right. You’ve considered all your options and made a positive choice as to what you want to achieve. And you have established specific, measurable goals which support your vision of success. You did all this with your ‘good’ brain – the positive, rational, motivated brain.

However, the brain you have at 5:30 am when the alarm reminds you it’s time for a bike ride, or the brain you have during that mid-afternoon low when your chocolate craving hits maximum, this is your ‘bad’ brain. And you must not engage in any dialogue with your bad brain. Your bad brain is very cunning and will offer all sorts of reasons why you shouldn’t go for a ride today, how you will catch up tomorrow, how one day won’t make a difference. And you’ll argue valiantly but eventually be convinced by the very logical reasoning of your bad brain.

The trick is to create very specific instructions for yourself (with your good brain) and then follow those instructions automatically with no further discussion. If bad brain starts up don’t even engage in debate – go into auto pilot and get the job done.

4. Make it regular and make it fun

It is easier to establish a habit if you do it everyday. Give yourself a goal – exercise everyday for the next two weeks or do not eat any chocolate for the next seven days. The longer you can do it consistently the easier it becomes! Do whatever you can to make it an enjoyable, fun habit. Listen to your MP3 player while you walk, give yourself a small reward everyday you don’t eat chocolate (what about putting that $1.50 you saved on the Snickers in a jar and buying a book or CD at the end of the month?).

Engineer for success

This idea from Zen Habits may sound too scientific and complicated, but basically it is about creating ‘cheats’ which will pull you towards your goal and push you away from what you don’t want. Make the path you want to follow easy for yourself, and make the other choices more difficult!

Leo Babauta includes lots of examples, and some of these we have already touched upon. But when you think about the strategies in this framework you can see why they work. Here’s just a few:

• Increase positive feedback for the habit by keeping a log (giving you satisfaction), getting positive support from others (locally or online) and rewarding yourself.
• Decrease negative feedback for the habit, such as the discomfort of starting exercise, by only doing a little bit in the beginning. If your craving chocolate, try some fruit and nuts (if they agree with you).
• Increase negative feedback for not doing the habit. You want to make it hard not to do the habit. If you’re trying to exercise, get rid of the TV and Internet and make your house uncomfortable, until you do your exercise.
• Decrease positive feedback for not doing the habit. What tempts you not to do your habit today? If you’re trying to exercise in the morning, the positive feedback from avoiding the exercise is staying in bed and getting more sleep. Set up multiple alarms all around your room and don’t go back to bed. You’re up now so why not go for a walk? Have someone waiting to meet you for your morning exercise.

Good luck IBDers – let me know how you are going with your good health habits!

Rebecca

• Do you have trouble starting and maintaining good health habits?
• A secret rebellion: why do you really forget to take your meds?
• What are your self-limiting beliefs?
• Are you trying to do too much? (Part 2)
• Sleeping your way to better health