How To Succeed With Your New Habit

February 11th, 2008 · 3 Comments

Would you like a visit from a personal health coach? Someone to motivate you, encourage you, and make wonderful suggestions?

Well, how about the next best thing? How about some feedback on your Change a Habit Contest entries? I thought it might be fun and helpful to get some recommendations, from me and other How to Cope with Pain readers, about moving forward with positive changes you want to make.

I had created the contest to encourage you to use pain management exercises regularly (or stick with any other resolution you had this year). I think we can learn from each other about making these worthwhile changes. Let’s take a look…

Nickie writes, “As far as using relaxation skills regularly, (I’m aiming for at least 20 minutes a day), I’m in relapse. I keep trying to start using these skills (I use audio recordings, because that’s easiest for me), but I’ll do them a few days, then stop, then start, then stop.

My action plan is to blog about what stops me from using these skills regularly, and possibly share that with my counselor. I think blogging about my difficulties will encourage me, because of the supportive comments I get, and other people’s opinions might help me see things in a different way.”

What we can learn:
1. When making a change, try small changes. Nickie might aim for 5 minutes - 2 times a week to start, then more often as she’s successful.
2. Plan out the first 2 weeks or so, noting in your appointment book or calendar exactly when you’ll do the relaxation exercises. Make it an appointment!
3. Great idea to blog about what’s working for you or not. Getting feedback from your counselor or your readers is another good idea.

Bronnie writes, “I’m in action phase of my diet for type II diabetes. I mainly do it, but get a bit short of time, or haven’t planned well enough and run out of appropriate food, or I just get plain fed up with not having chocolate!

So I plan to write a menu for the week, and shop according to it, so I have a range of things to make, including ‘no-energy-to-cook’ meals, and loads of fresh fruit. I’ll also allow myself ONE ‘treat’ so that I don’t feel I’m horribly bad when I slip up. And the reward? I’m going to see my dietician next week, and I’ve even managed to lose a couple of kilos over Christmas! So sharing that with her will be my reward!”

What we can learn:
1. Bronnie’s identified what gets in the way of her good-diet goal. And she’s planned steps to address the roadblocks.
2. Writing out things ahead of time is an excellent idea.
3. Planning for times that it’ll be a challenge to stick with your goal (“no-energy-to-cook days”) is really helpful.
4. Rewarding yourself regularly, with 1 treat a day, as well as sharing your success with others, are both good motivators.

Irene writes, “I’m in the action stage of exercising. My plan is to walk the building at work twice a day, take the stairs instead of the elevators and do the treadmill on weekends.”

What we can learn:
1. It might be better to make 1 change a week, e.g. walk once a day at work for the 1st week, then twice a week for the 2nd week, then add taking the stairs for the 3rd week, etc. Going slowly with changes helps you stick with your goal, because you don’t get overwhelmed with changes. And, when you’re successful, you’re more motivated to continue with your plan.
2. Irene might also write down exactly what times on the weekends she’ll use the treadmill, so Sunday night doesn’t come around and you find you’ve run out of time.

Hedi writes, “I’m trying to get in bed at a good time, every night. Well, almost every night. I’d say I’m in action state.”

What we can learn:
1. For the action stage, Hedi might want to identify how exactly she’s going to help herself with that goal, to better ensure success. And I like that she’s giving herself a bit of flexibility, not striving to be perfect.

Christine writes, “Stage 2: Contemplation. At this point, I can only contemplate what I want to change. As soon as my restriction to bed is done, I’m contemplating walking short distances, until I can build up strength to walk long distances.

The pros of walking would be:
1. Muscle strength back in my legs.
2. Building up outside time to get vitamin D from the sun.
3. Gaining strength and conquering my pain, enough so that I may go play at the park with my child and husband.
4. Building up strength so that I can get off the medications that I now take for my RSD/CRPS.
5. Last, but certainly not least, to lose the weight that I have gained since my injury occurred.

The cons to starting walking are few. The one that is major is:
1. The pain from using my RSD/CRPS affected leg will be excruciating. But if I don’t strengthen my legs or myself, my RSD can get worse, thereby causing more pain. Catch 22.

So when given permission - I will be walking.”

What we can learn:
1. Preparing early is great.
2. Having both short-term reasons for a goal (getting vitamin D) as well as longer-term ones (eventually playing with her child and husband) is wonderful. And you have lots of reasons to keep you going when the going gets tough. Great list!!
3. Christine might like to figure out ways to deal with or minimize the cons of her goal. Are there ways to decrease the pain walking would cause? For example, start in a pool? Only a few steps a day to start, then build upon that?

Jeisea writes, “My habit to change is not pacing and paying for it later. I’m in Stage 3, Preparation.

My plan:
1. When I notice I’m anxious, tired, lacking in concentration or in worse pain, I’ll stop.
2. I’ll massage an acupressure point for relaxation for a few minutes. (This step is there not just to relax, but also to give me time to make the right decision. If I don’t pause to think, I know I’ll just go on with what I’m doing.)
3. I’ll think about what’s the best thing to do, whether that’s change posture, activity, rest, etc.
4. I’ll do it.

What we can learn:
1. Excellent advice to give yourself time to think about what you need to do. Until we become used to new habits, they do need extra attention!
2. Another tip Jeisea might try is to keep a “Pacing Log,” to write down when she does pace, when she doesn’t. By studying the log, she can learn what’s helping her stick with the change she wants, as well as in what situations she doesn’t pace. Then she can figure out what to do to increase her use of pacing.

Beth writes, “I’m in preparation stage right now for getting more exercise, as part of a larger plan of getting into better shape (including diet changes).

I’m going to write out a specific plan to detail, on a weekly basis, the sort of exercise I want to get – it will mostly be walking and yoga, because I used to do a lot more of each and haven’t done much of either so far this year. Once it’s written down, it’s a lot easier to carry through with it.”

What we can learn:
1. Writing our plans down makes them concrete and definite, and so, more likely that we’ll follow them.
2. Writing out a weekly schedule keeps your goal in front of you. Looking at your schedule weekly can also help you plan, as often our lives look different week to week. Let’s say you see that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be really busy. Then that week, you can plan to exercise later in the week and on the weekend. Or perhaps you see you have meetings 4 evenings in one week. For several days that week, you might make the decision to wake up 45 minutes early, so you’ll be sure to have time to stick with your goal.

Suzy writes, “I’m in the action phase. I’m working on actively using the therapy exercises and TENS unit to control my pain, before it gets to levels where I have to take more medication.

What we can learn:
1. For the action stage, Suzy might want to identify how exactly she’s going to help herself with that goal, to better ensure success. And Suzy’s right, it’s a great idea to use coping skills before pain gets too bad.

So that’s some feedback from me. What 1 piece of advice would you offer to one of your fellow readers above?