Make It Attractive, Fun Gets It Done
Let’s be honest, if good habits were fun you’d already be doing them. When we find a task boring or monotonous, we may not want to practice it. However we know that we need to practice them to get in the successful reps in order to form new habits. Healthy nutrition habits are perceived to be pretty boring - meal prep, shopping, boring meals - but that doesn’t have to be the case.
There was an engineer who loved Netflix and wanted to exercise more, so he created an exercise bike that was powered by Netflix if he cycled at a certain speed.
What we can learn from this is that if we combine the fun stuff with the not so fun stuff, the latter is more likely to be completed.
This is known as “Temptation Bundling”.
Pairing an action you want to do with an action that you need to do.
Pair something you love with a habit you want to build and you may find yourself doing it more, and even enjoying it. When we enjoy things, we do them more often - successful reps!
Josh loves music and podcasts. He likes to pair that with his more boring tasks like cooking or shopping.
How do you create a temptation bundle?
Create 2 columns.
In the first column, write down a list of pleasures and temptations you enjoy doing.
In the second, write a list of tasks and behaviours that you should be doing, that you want to start doing and that are aligned with your desired identity.
Then, pair them up.
Eg. Taking your headphones to listen to music while doing the shopping
Listening to music/podcasts/audio-books while walking to get your steps up
Watching Netflix while chopping the veggies or cooking dinner.
You’re more likely to find a behaviour attractive if you get to do one of your favorite things at the same time.
How are you going to pair something you’re trying to practice with something you already enjoy doing?
The focus strategy for this week is to make it attractive, make it enjoyable, or at least a little less painful
