Is that a strange question for us to ask?
Surely the idea of adopting more healthy habits can only make life better.
Particularly as the desire to introduce any behaviour change begins with an individual looking to improve their current routine. No one sets out to make changes that will make their life less good.
Whether it be a passing notion or a burning desire, adopting new behaviours begins with the self generated wish to 'be more active', 'get better sleep' or 'carve out more quality time for myself and my family'.
So why does the path of healthy habit behaviour change often not run as smoothly as it might?
Often because, and we have a LOT of conversations on this topic, although the idea of making healthy habit change begins from a positive place, the human brain can quickly jump to what might be lost along the way.
Here's they type of negative leap we often hear.
'I'd love to be more active but making time for activity will steal time from other important things in my day.'
'If I want to get better sleep I’ll have less down time in the evenings.'
'If I want more quality time for myself of with my family, it'll mean losing time for work.'
If we anticipate the loss of something important to us, there’s not much incentive to change
So we need instead to concentrate on what we’ll gain.
Here’s how to quickly reframe the three examples above so that the gains far outweigh any possible losses.
'I'd love to be more active but making time for activity will steal time from other important things in my day.'
Getting active should never be seen as something that costs you time but rather something that makes every hour of your day (and indeed your night) more effective.
Exercise doesn't mean taking time away from work, but instead will energise your mind and body to make more creative decisions.
Getting active helps you change your physical environment which in turn invigorates your mental state.
You will gain calm and clarity of thought.
You will sleep better, which in turn improves the quality and enjoyment of everything you do.
'If I want to get better sleep I’ll have less down time in the evenings.'
It’s a regular conundrum. Me-time versus sleep. Netflix versus sleep. Emails versus sleep.
The perception is that if we steal time from sleep to do more of any of the above, it’ll make us feel happier or more in control.
But if we’re tired there’s a glass ceiling on how happy we can ever feel.
So drop the idea that if we sleep more we’ll lose out on things that make us happy. If you want to gain happiness in bucketloads, prioritise your sleep.
If you’re still not convinced, we suggest you try it for just a few nights. We've never had anyone come back to us and say they regretted getting more sleep. And they never lose anything when they make this change. Even if it's just for a short time - the difference it makes is dramatic.
'If I want more quality time for myself of with my family, it'll mean losing time for work.'
Take a moment to think about why you work.
For many people, a large part of their motivation is to provide for their family.
But there’s more than one way to provide. Family members benefit from your presence and guidance as much as from financial stability.
It can be a tough juggling act at times but for most people, getting on the right side of the balance between work and family comes down to a minor adjustment of priorities and timing rather than a total revision of your weekly commitments.
And if you make this adjustment you will relieve yourself of guilt that may have been haunting you for a while, and acquire a sense of achievement.
Finally, if it’s work productivity and progress you’re concerned about losing, rest assured you’ll make better decisions with the deeper perspective on life that's pretty much guaranteed when you spend more quality time with your nearest and dearest.
Apply the strategy liberally: focus only on what you gain
Here are a few additional examples of the same process. There are many others and there are countless ways this process can be personalised to take account of the behaviour changes and specific gains at stake for each individual.
Your mission is to spend a little time considering what sometimes blocks you from making the healthy habit changes that you’d like to make, identify where your mind may be drawn to something that you think you might lose along the way, and follow this quick reframe process so the gains far outweigh any anticipated losses and the positives immediately outweigh the negatives.
The final part of the process is to make sure that when you give the changes a go, and you begin to appreciate all the positives that accompany these changes, keep an ongoing list of what you gain.
The more gains you register, the more likely you are to protect the positive habits in the long-term.
Drink less alcohol
What might you lose
That feeling of relaxing, shutting down the work day and changing your frame of mind for the evening.
What will you gain
Time and clarity for the evening
Better sleep
A clearer head in the morning
A more energetic / efficient day tomorrow
Stop mindlessly scrolling on my phone
What might you lose
Scrolling news or social media can be a good way to tune out from work and either focus on something else for a while or, more accurately, focus on nothing important while you recharge your batteries.
What will you gain
Time to do some of the other things on your to-do list that are more important than scrolling, but perhaps more importantly, less scrolling means less time when your brain is in a passive ‘distract me’ state and more time when you can tune in to life.
Scrolling is generally a distraction from what really matters to you. You’re being served what an algorithm thinks you’ll find interesting and important.
We all need more practice in allowing ourselves time and space to make our own decisions on what’s interesting and important in our life. So the biggest gain here? The simple act of less scrolling can be vital in putting you back in touch with what really matters to you.
The more time you spend thinking about what really matters, the easier it is to progress through life.
Switch my phone off at weekends and when on holiday
What might you lose
Well, you might miss out on being totally up to date with everything, or a request for you to do something, or you may miss something that someone hasn't spotted or not done correctly or as you think it should have been done to maximise an opportunity.
But you must offset all of this against other losses:
Valuable down time / recovery time
Sleep
Family time
Variety in life
Fun
Remember the guideline that 'just because you can, doesn’t mean you should'. If you check email on vacation and get involved in what you see, not only are you compromising your time, you’re also potentially depriving others of the opportunity to learn and grow.
Think also about how regular work interruptions could affect your best performance.
Sprinters can run at an incredible speed but they don’t travel everywhere like this. Quite the opposite. They only perform at their absolute peak a few times every 4 years. Trying to perform at their peak too often can actually put their best results at risk.
Similarly, the more you work, the more you risk diluting your best and most valuable performance.
Think of weekends and vacations, and also evenings if you can, as the training periods that enable peak performance more often. The times when you are setting the groundwork to be at your best for each work day.
What will you gain
A weekly routine in which you move between peak performance and recovery
A schedule filled with deep work and quality focus, offset by periods of calm reflection
You can amplify success throughout the business by role modelling this approach for others to operate in the same way
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