Awareness of negative consequences of poor choices motivates change
Stress for Success
May 20, 2014
Have you ever hung a photo of your heaviest self on your
refrigerator door to discourage you from eating unhealthy and fattening stuff?
If so, you may also have read self-esteem advisers telling you that was a bad
idea because it was putting yourself down.
Not so fast. Perhaps telling your self-esteem to look the other
way is worth it if reminding yourself of the negative consequences of
overeating help you to get your eating under control.
In my 2010 published book, Let
Your Body Win, Stress Management Plain and Simple,
I quoted researcher Dr. Mary Ann Chapman
who addressed what best motivates us to make difficult changes:
“The
key to breaking a bad habit (e.g., avoiding exercise) and adopting a good one (e.g.,
regular exercising) is making changes in your daily life that minimize the
influence of the now and remind you of the later.”
In
other words:
•
Minimize
the immediate reward from avoiding exercising.
•
Make
the long-term negative consequences of not exercising - continued
depression/anxiety/anger/weight gain - seem more immediate.
So
instead of excuse after excuse to avoid exercise, remind yourself how tired you
are of being emotionally stuck and exhausted.
To
put her theory to work on your own bad habits, you’ll need to expand your
conscious awareness of your unhealthy choices even as you are making them and
be very aware of their resulting negative consequences.
For
example, if you know, in your heart of hearts, that you overeat but you still
keep on doing it, consider keeping track on paper what you snack on every day
of the week for at least a couple of weeks. Once you come face-to-face with
evidence that you eat monstrous amounts of ice cream virtually every night, for
example, it’s hard to deny it. Then, ask yourself which negative consequences you
experience from this unhealthy habit. Your list might include:
·
Your
inability to lose weight;
·
Your
excess weight’s negative impact on your joints;
·
Low
energy due to being overweight;
·
Etc.
Try
Dr. Chapman’s advice to break your bad ice cream habit by remaining consciously
aware on a daily basis of the negative consequences of it. If that means post
those “fat” photos of yourself on your refrigerator – or better yet, on the
freezer – then do so. You could similarly post words or photos representing
joint pain and low energy to keep them in your conscious awareness. When you
experience the joint pain and fatigue, consciously connect them right then and
there to your over-eating habits.
It’s
great to motivate yourself with positive images – if that works for you. But if
nothing is working to change your bad habits, consider a different motivation.
This is how I successfully changed many a bad habit in my own life. When I read
Dr. Chapman’s research, I knew it was true because it had worked for me so
often.
I
challenge you right now to identify something you’ve been saying you want to
change for a long time but haven’t. Pay conscious attention to it for a week or
two and honestly note the negative consequences of it. Figure out how to keep
these negative consequences in front of you daily until you successfully change
for the better. Good luck.
Jacquelyn
Ferguson, M. S. is an international speaker and a Stress and Wellness
Coach. Order her book, Let Your Body Win: Stress Management Plain
& Simple, at http://www.letyourbodywin.com/bookstore.html. Email her to request she speak to your
organization at jferg8@aol.com.
