Have you set health goals for yourself in the past and then failed to achieve them? Are you frustrated by your lack of progress toward the health goals you are currently working toward? Are you ready to throw in the towel and give up on trying to get healthy altogether? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then this guest post is for you. Julia Egan from the site Balancing Bravely shares a method that will help you figure out what is holding you back from achieving your health goals, identify what resources you have that will help you achieve your health goals, and then guide you into creating a plan for success. I think you will find this post to be incredibly valuable! – Tracy
“Wow, this is exactly what I needed to get my training back on track to complete my first marathon.”
That’s what a nurse told me during the lunch break of a workshop I was teaching – my day job is about supporting healthcare workers to adopt new evidence-based approaches. To help them change their behavior in a work setting, I teach them how to apply behavior change theory. It sounds complicated and overwhelming, but it can be so applicable and easy to use, and recently lots of people have been sharing stories about how they have used it to improve their home lives, not just their work.
This nurse, Carla, was incredible. At the end of the day she had taken what we had learned and mapped it out for her marathon training. She had figured out her barriers and facilitators and developed a plan to overcome them. Before I show you her plan, let’s walk through the process.
What does psychology tell us about how to change our behavior?
1. Set healthy behavior goals.
First, you want to figure out what you want to change (e.g., eating more vegetables, going to bed earlier, getting more exercise). This is about goal setting. It’s so helpful to know exactly what you are aiming for – what are your BIG goals?
2. Why haven’t you changed? What are your barriers?
Second, you want to understand why you aren’t changing your behavior. Think about these barriers in different categories: are you capable of making the change, do you have opportunities to make the change, are you motivated to make the change?
For each of these 3 categories, think about whether you have any of those types of barriers. Most people will have a few barriers in every category, and often one category has many more barriers than the others.
Are you capable of change?
Do you have the knowledge and skills to change? For example, if you want to be better at eating healthy meals, do you have the knowledge and skills to cook a healthy meal? If you want to run a marathon, do you have the knowledge and skills to figure out how to get you there?
Do you have opportunities to change?
Does your environment support this change you are trying to make or is it hindering you? If you are making healthy dinners, but then eating junk food that your spouse brings home, that’s an opportunity issue. If you joined a running group, but they meet at really inconvenient times, that is an opportunity barrier.
Are you motivated to change?
Are you excited to change? Is this change a priority for you? Do you really want to make this change? If you didn’t have a confident yes, then you might have a motivation issue. This is really important. If you are not motivated to change, you are unlikely to put in the work long-term.
3. Is there anything helping you make the change? What are your facilitators?
Once you understand your barriers, you can start to think about facilitators, these are things that support you to make a change. Again, you can think about facilitators in each category.
Are you capable of change?
If you have great knowledge or strong skills, this is a facilitator.
Do you have opportunities to change?
If you have people or things in your environment that support you (e.g., a running buddy, a gym nearby) these are facilitators.
Are you motivated to change?
Are there things that motivate and inspire you? Do you have podcasts that get you pumped up?
4. What is your plan to overcome barriers and leverage facilitators?
Once you have your barriers and facilitators grouped into the three categories, you are ready to take the leap and come up with an action plan to overcome them.
Let’s jump back to Carla’s marathon example. At the end of the workshop (which was about her day job, not marathon running), she showed me both her work example and a fully worked-through example for marathon running.
Here is what her running example looked like:
Barriers |
Facilitators |
Action Plan |
|
Capability (knowledge, skills) |
Used to be a runner, but struggling now, because I assume I should be as good as I was years ago without training;
I don’t have a good strategy in place, going too hard and burning out |
Used to be a runner in high school and college | Get a book – one of those couch to marathon ones with a training plan. Why am I trying to do this without a plan??? |
Opportunity (environment) |
Running buddy (barrier because she just did a marathon last year, so I’m trying to keep up but way behind her skill level and it’s hard and discouraging) | Running buddy (also a facilitator, because I like hanging out with her and she inspires me);
Joined a running group; Have all of the gear. |
Run with my running buddy once a week (on the weekend) and remind myself to compare my progress to where I started, not to her. |
Motivation |
I realized I’m motivated to run the marathon, but not as motivated to run each day. I’ve been trying to run after my kids go to bed, but thinking of moving that to a lunchtime run 2 days a week (which I had never thought of until you pushed us to think for out of the box solutions) | Our office moved and we have a gym on the top floor, plus I could run outside at lunch. Wow, never thought of that. | See barrier box – going to run twice a week at lunch and once a week on the weekends. No nighttime running – it’s just depressing for me.
I want to create small running inspirations at work and in the office. I love photos, so I’m going to add some to keep me motivated. |
Two months later, I bumped into Carla. She was so excited to tell me about her progress – not on her work project, but on her running. She got a book that night with a training plan. She loved the book (which also motivated her) and gave her some great structure.
Carla talked to her running buddy about how she sometimes felt “not good enough” and would then get discouraged and not want to run again. Her running buddy opened up about her running struggles and they had this great new open relationship, being really honest about how they were feeling about running.
The lunchtime running didn’t exactly work as planned, but it got her talking with her husband and they worked out a new schedule for her to run one morning a week (while he got their daughter ready for daycare) and one evening after work (but right after work, so it was still light out). She was figuring the work-life balance that works for her. Carla was beaming with pride.
What are your barriers? Is it a skills issue? The environment? Or a problem with motivation?
What supports you to change when you do? People around you?
Build your action plan based on your barriers and facilitators. Imagine what it would feel like to actually be achieving your goals.
P.S. If you are a bit nerdy like me, here is a link to the article about this theory.