Study has shown that we all have some behaviour that we would like to change about ourselves and we are also trying to help someone else change their behaviour in a positive way.
According to Tali Sharot, research was carried out that reveals an important thing about what gets people to change their behaviour. She further said that if we want to motivate change, we need to have a rethink on how to go about it, because fear of losing money, health, induces inaction, while the thrill of a gain induces action.
So, instead of using warnings of bad things that can happen in future, we can use the 3 principle that can drive the mind and behaviour.
The principles are;
- Social incentive
- Immediate reward
- Progress monitoring
Dealing With Vices for Me
- Procrastination: Even when I know the implication of procrastinating, I still do it and most times I tend to miss deadlines or miss appointments. As a way of dealing with this vice;
- My social incentive is to know that, people who do not procrastinate will meet their deadlines.
- My immediate reward is drawn from meeting deadlines and I’m sure of not being disappointed.
- My progress monitoring is to have on my scoreboard/notepad a to-do list and at each time I finish a task, I tick it and move to the next on the list.
2. Bad investment: Overtime, I have invested wrongly and I get to lose money in the process but I also still find myself taking risk. As a way of dealing with this vice;
- My social incentive is to know that hypothetically, 60% of people go into business with calculated risk.
- My immediate reward is to calculate the risk involved in such business to know if it is viable and okay to invest in. I will draw up a strategy with a risk analyst.
- My progress monitoring is on the strategy I have drawn, crossing out all investment that are not viable and okay to invest in. I will also get an accountability partner to help monitor my progress.
Dealing with Vices for Someone I Know
- Smoking and drinking: This person has been drinking and smoking for years and I can say that he is addicted to it. So, in dealing with this vice;
- The social incentive will be to inform him that only 10% of smokers and drinkers don’t have health issues because they do exercises.
- The immediate reward will be that he is now focusing more on the exercise and he is seeing the impact.
- The progress monitoring will now be to tell him that he is doing great and he can be a fitness expert and in-turn Impact others.
2. Unstable Relationship: This person never has a long-lasting relationship; I can say that he only stays for about 3 months before moving on to the next person.
- The social incentive will be to inform him that people who look for fruit other than trees find a good partner.
- The immediate reward will be that he is now careful of his selection and takes his time before getting a partner.
- The progress monitoring will be that even though he found a partner, he is aware that he carefully made his choice and the relationship may lead to an eternal partnership.
My experience on this exercise is that, this exercise has exposed me to strategies/principles that will aid my ability to dealing with negative/bad habits and to also know how well to deal with man especially when you know that men have a power of free choice which is essential to achieve true personal and professional development of oneself.
Conclusively, to change behaviour in ourselves and in others, we may want to try these positive strategies rather than threats, which really capitalize on the human tendency to seek progress.
