Step Four: Have a Plan

The final step of #The Framework for Changing Habits¹, is to establish a plan of action to begin to shift your behavior.

The hardest part of habit change, even equipped with the knowledge of your cue, is making the conscious effort to steer away from doing your routine. Sometimes you forget and sometimes you just don’t have the willpower to defy your urges. Hence, study after study concluded that having a plan is the easiest way to accomplish something. Not just having a plan in mind–it’s as if writing in water–but having it in a piece of paper is more powerful.

Say, through reward experimentations, your finding indicates you quench your sweet tooth by eating a chocolate bar, and a working alternative is to bite an apple instead. Your plan of action should be: “Whenever I feel the need to take a chocolate bar, I will grab an apple instead.” Better, when you know what time you usually snack: “At 4:30, I will go to the cafeteria and grab a fruit”.

Specificity is key. The more specific your are with your plan, the easier it is to follow.

Additionally, plan ahead for when you succumbed to your urges. After all, we are creatures who act according to our urges. It’s how we survive. You may choose to punish yourself for it, but it is better yet have a plan of action for when you capitulate.

Sometimes, you won’t have enough willpower to stick to your rule after a long day of work. It is more acceptable to compensate rather than to skip and declare a “cheat day”–we all know how it ends. For instance, instead of eating a fruit you grabbed a cookie. You may write on your plan: “When I’m tempted to grab a cookie and cannot resist anymore, I will only eat half of it.” Still, you satisfied your cue to eat something sweet but it’s a win nonetheless, because you resisted to eat the whole thing and abided by your plan.

You may add a few more rules to your list, but be sure to make it simple, concise, actionable and specific. Not too complicated of a plan to overwhelm yourself, but not too simple that you can ignore it.

Resources