Motivation is a Crock: How to Create Healthy Habits and Lose the Bad Ones

Motivation is a Crock:

How to Create Healthy Habits and Lose the Bad Ones

By

Charles Atkins, MD

Question: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

Answer: "Practice."

I'm a dual career psychiatrist and author.  And as I bounce from being the white-coated Dr. Atkins to Charles Atkins the writer sitting in sweats at his computer every morning I've discovered several things that help with both professions.  Here's one--Motivation is a crock. 

If I waited to get motivated to write; there'd be little on the printed page.  Similarly I've noted with my patients--and myself--when it comes to positive behavioral change like exercising, giving up cigarettes, creating healthy eating habits, ending a bad relationship etc. if we relied on motivation little would happen.  Especially if the desire is to create a sustainable new behavior that is done--or not done (smoking, drinking, overeating etc.)--in an ongoing way. 

Yet somehow there's a magical notion that we can make important changes when 'we feel like it'.  And yes, we all get bursts of motivation:        

·         Today's the day I stop smoking. 

·         Without fail my diet starts on Monday. 

·         Swear to God I'll  never drink again.   

Truth is motivation--our desire to do something--is fickle, or maybe a better metaphor is it's like the temperature that goes up and down.  An alcoholic who wakes at eight with a hangover swears, "I'll never drink again".  By noon after a few aspirin the hangover is gone, motivation plummets, craving and maybe some subtle--or not so subtle--withdrawal symptoms pick up and by four p.m. he's in the liquor store getting his favorite bottle.   It's not that the morning's desire to quit was a lie, it's just like most thoughts, it was fleeting. 

So here's the deal about change and creating sustainable positive habits.  It's simple and it's hard.  And the folks at Nike summed it up with their famous snapline--"Just do it".  If you want to be a writer you need to sit your butt down in a chair, every single day and write.  It might be hard at first, but if you stick to it, it gets easier.  Somewhere I read that Stephen King writes ten pages a day.  That explains a lot, in 30 days he has the rough draft of a novel.  My own writing habit varies on whether or not I'm going in to see patients.  If it's a home day, and I'm working on a new book I write between 5-10 pages.  If it's a work day, I get up early and write at least 2-3 pages.  I've done this for years.  As a result, I've written quite a few books.  Yet on at least half those days as I'm climbing the stairs to my office I don't feel like writing; the motivation is not there.  And here's an observation, the reluctance to get the work done, passes quickly once I start to type.  For writers, this is one of the few truisms that holds water--"Writers write," and most of us do it daily, whether we feel like it or not.    

So too, knowing that daily exercise decreases depression and anxiety, controls weight, lets you sleep better at night and keeps your bones and muscles healthy, is useless information if you don't do it.  Again, on most days before starting to exercise, 'I don't feel like it'.  After the fact I feel great--accomplished, ready to face whatever comes next etc.  But if I waited for motivation, it wouldn't happen.  And if I stopped exercising all the gains I've made would vanish.

A lot has been written about motivation and it's ephemeral nature.  In behavioral science we look at the work of Prochaska, Norcross and DiClemente who developed stage of change theory.  And how motivation can be the catalyst for action.  How we take a motivational wish and turn it into steps toward real change is where most get stuck.  "I know I need to lose weight, I try but I just can't do it."  Really?  Let's break it down.  What are you actually doing to get that weight off?  Have you worked these changes into your daily routines?  Are you taking in a prescribed number of calories?  Are you portioning your food correctly?  Are you bringing your own lunch to work?  Have you stopped drinking sugared sodas and juices?  If the weight's not coming off, chances are you've not made the changes you thought you had.  This is where programs like Weight Watchers can be so beneficial.  They give people wanting to lose weight, clear information and guidelines, that if followed in an ongoing way, will help. 

For those with drug and alcohol problems 12-step programs such as AA and NA can be life savers.  Their mission is crystal clear, people coming together with unified goals--don't drink or drug.  To this end there is a very matter-of-fact behavioral plan laid down--don't use, show up to meetings, call your sponsor or get to a meeting when you get a craving and so forth.  And of course their famous mantra, "One Day at a Time."  Yup, maintaining change is about managing the behavior one day at a time.

The good news is that over time the energy expended in creating behavioral change takes root.  This makes tremendous sense, practice makes perfect.  My desires to write, maintain healthy eating habits or exercise turn from wishes into concrete habits, with daily practice.  Yes, I still get the impulses to screw off and play Words with Friends instead of finishing the next chapter.  But my mind has been trained that this is the time to write, and so I do.