5 Simple Strategies to Elevate Your Approach to Behavior Change
Key Takeaways
Sustainable behavior change isn't about forcing yourself into perfection — it's about building systems that honor your humanity. This means having a clear vision, embracing flexibility, staying discerning, and making room for joy along the way. The journey isn't linear, but with the right mindset and tools, it can be deeply rewarding.
Set your intention clearly, but don't treat it like a straight line to success. Change is uncomfortable and often unpredictable.
Curate Your Inputs Like Your Life Depends On It (Because It Does). The internet offers limitless information — and misinformation. Be intentional about what you absorb and who benefits from your attention.
Growth doesn't have to be rigid or miserable. True transformation happens in the gray area , where curiosity meets discipline and joy meets structure. Fun isn't optional. It's what makes change sustainable.
Start With the End In Mind (And Have Exit Ramps)
“Beginning with the end in mind” is a central pillar in any behavior change process. You cannot begin fruitfully without first pulling at (and sequencing out) the threads of the finished product. That said, behavior change is uncomfortable and uncertain enough to make the process feel daunting and exhausting. Begin with the end in mind, but give yourself space and grace with exit ramps. The process of change will never be linear, and holding a gun to your own head won’t necessarily meet the expectations with true and sustainable change.
Exit ramps, on the highway of life, are relief stations. Hungry? Tired? Really have to pee? There is nothing like a rest stop to refuel and recharge on a long journey. As you begin with the end in mind, where are you incorporating exit ramps- planned or spontaneous- in order to keep the things the things and resist the inevitable fatigue of going nonstop?
Invest in Your Library
In this modern age of hyper-connectivity, you can get any information about anything to validate any belief. Anything (in excess) can be a toxin and anything (in moderation) can reduce harm. The internet provides a wealth of knowledge with low-to-no barriers to access. This is a good thing. The internet also provides an abundance of un-moderated content, heavily influenced and driven by earnings.
Use discretion when engaging in educational content, keep a critical eye on sources and the beneficiaries of your attention. Reading (and critical thought) are skills that can be developed just like any other. Develop those skills as if your life depend on it, because it does. Question everything, including yourself- your aims, your intentions, and your end-game goals- to ensure that the processes that you’re implementing are, in fact, set with your best outcomes in mind.
Embrace the Spectrum (Distinction Instead of Contradiction)
Cartesian duality assumes that opposites imply conflict. Like the great prophecy between Harry and Voldemort, neither can live while the other survives. If something is hot, than it must not be cold. There is nuance between the two and all-or-nothing thought processes tend to fail in some regard because they neglect that truth. While this-or-that can be exclusionary, this-and-that approaches are nurturing.
There will be moments along your behavior change journey that ask of you something slightly off to the left of what you’d set out to do. Diversions and accommodations are an inevitability of this process, use them as opposed to avoiding them. Find the space where “contradiction” and “distinction” meet to suit your needs best.
Gamify It
Fun is scientifically proven in improve outcomes, particularly in learning. Behavior change is a learning process, it is a process of skills development specified for behaviors. That’s it. As kids, we are cultivated in fun, playful environments. We get recess and activities that stoke curiosity, empower innovation, and lead to long lasting life lessons. Somewhere in life, we end up carrying the expectation of meeting standards, consumed otherwise by preparing to meet those standards. This is the byproduct of civilization, particularly on that is built on quantifiable validation. Big data aggregates, reduced into buckets of “either or”.
You are the master of your life. As such, fun cannot be fully taken from you. You look at your intended outcomes and explore creative ways to embark on that journey. You can do this by
Just Do It- For You (But What Does That Mean)
Lastly, and bigly, just do the thing. Every moment is a decision made whether we like it or not. You can either let the decisions happen, sans involvement, or you can actively engage where opportunity arises. There are the things we can and cannot control- as such, we should retain our power over the things we can control. The thing you can control is yourself. Your thoughts will happen, and mindfulness is the practice of engaging the response you have to the thoughts. Your words get spoken, and you can either speak without listening or you can hear yourself and speak impeccably. Actions require motivation, and you can have conscious awareness of those motivations through introspection and curiosity.
Your legacy is the result of your decisions made. Decisions should be made for your highest and best self given the tools and resources available to you at any given time. This approach can feel like one big platitude, but the bottom line is the simplest line. Start there. Take inventory of the choices you make that you know do not serve you. Take inventory of the choices you make intending to reduce harm and induce self care. Be honest with yourself, you cannot run from the mirror- at least not very far.