改变习惯的秘密

    设定要求自我拓展的目标，但你必须确信这些目标是可以实现的。斯坦福大学教授B•J•福格表示，持续改变行为最大的挑战之一是目标设定过高，而不是在日常事务当中做出小的、可以持续的变化，并建立自信。

    员工健康与福利公司Keas的客户成功副总裁米西•耶格表示：“设定和跟踪小的、可实现的周目标，是改变长期习惯的最佳方式。”他发现，当你行动起来时，大脑活动会变得更活跃。

    杜希格表示，信心是成功改变旧习惯的关键所在。他写道：“要改变一种习惯，你必须要有改变它的决心。你必须知道你有自控能力，并具备利用这种能力的自我意识。”

    研究显示，如果我们能预测障碍，并为之做出规划，我们便更有可能取得成功。例如，如果你打算每周参加一次联谊会，但有人取消了你的资格，这时，你可以考虑备份计划，利用这个时间去接触其他人。或者，如果你提前决定，一旦在节食过程中“破戒”，便立刻重新坚持健康饮食，你便不会因为一次“破戒”而认为之前的坚持都“不算数”，于是一整周都在狂吃甜甜圈和汉堡。

    如果能获得社会支持，培养或改变一种习惯会变得更容易。邀请同事和朋友们一起改变习惯，或者帮助你坚持自己的目标。如果你某天的第一条Facebook信息是决心除了午餐休息时间外，远离社交媒体，由于担心被公开羞辱，你或许能坚持自己的决定。Keas健康游戏平台的用户在一项由雇主发起的健康挑战活动期间，加入了一个团队。结果显示，在为期三个月的挑战过程中，用户的运动量增加了14%。

    杜希格写道：“证据很明显：如果你想改变习惯，你必须找到它的替代品，如果你加入一个有相同目标的团队，你的成功几率将大大提升。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    审校：任文科

    Set goals that require you to stretch yourself, but ones that you can believably reach. Stanford University Professor B.J. Fogg says one of the biggest challenges to lasting behavior change is overreaching on goals, rather than making small, sustainable changes in our daily routines and building on our success.

    “Setting and tracking small, achievable weekly goals is the best way to change a long-term habit,” says Missy Jaeger, vice president of client success at the employee health and wellness firm Keas, noting that brain activity flares when you start moving your body.

    Belief is a key part of successful habit change, Duhigg notes. “To modify a habit, you must decide to change it. You must know you have control and be self-conscious enough to use it,” he writes.

    Research shows that if we anticipate obstacles and plan for them, we’re more likely to succeed. For instance, if you aim to have one networking meeting a week and someone cancels on you, consider having a back-up plan to use that time to reach out to other contacts. Or if you decide ahead of time that if you slip from your diet, you’ll jump right back into healthy eating, you could avoid the weeklong binge on doughnuts and burgers that you would’ve previously justified as “not counting” since you already broke your diet.

    Habits are much easier to create or change if you have social support. Enlist colleagues and friends to change habits together, or in helping you stick to your goals. If your first Facebook post of the day is a resolution to stay off social media except for your lunch break, the fear of public shaming may keep you honest. Similarly, users of the Keas wellness gaming platform who joined a team during an employer-sponsored health challenge reported a 14% increase in exercise over the course of the three-month challenge.

    “The evidence is clear: If you want to change a habit, you must find an alternative routine, and your odds of success go up dramatically when you commit to changing as part of a group,” Duhigg writes.