1. Identify the behavior you want to change and whether it is an A, B, or C behavior.<ul><li>A = Automatic</li><li>B = Burning</li><li>C = Common</li></ul>2. Use as many of the seven SCIENCE forces as apply to make lasting changes to your behavior.

The 2-step Model For Lasting Change

The SCIENCE forces are like physical forces that constantly push and pull us. The more forces we can implement, the more likely we are to create lasting change. S is for stepladdersC is for communityI is for importantE is for easyN is for neurohacksC is for captivatingE is for engrainedNot only do we need to understand these forces but we also need to be aware of when to use them.

What Are The SCIENCE Forces?

Automatic behaviors are best changed by making things Easy and Engrained along with using Neurohacks and Captivating rewards.Burning behaviors are similar to automatic ones but we can also use Stepladders, Community, and Immediacy.Common behaviors are best changed with the help of Communities in conjunction with the other forces while Neurohacks are the least effective.In general, the more conscious we are of our behaviors, the easier they are to change.

ABCs And What To Do About Them

Sometimes we fail at achieving our goals because they are out of our control or unrealistic. Set steps to get to goals, to get to dreams.Is it a Dream or a Goal?Dreams typically take more than three months and you haven't previously accomplished it before.Goals typically take one to three months and are easier to quantify. *Goals can take longer but only if you have experience.Make your steps tiny and build on small victories. You should be able to accomplish at least one step each week.

STEPLADDERS - Dreams, Goals, & Steps

Social support and healthy competition are powerful. Find a community of people doing what you want to do or begin your own. The best communities have a "social magnet" that drive them and draw the members closer. Without this, communities often fail.The 6 ingredients for a successful community are:<ol><li>The need to Trust - share experiences</li><li>The need to Fit In - clear social norms</li><li>The need for Self Worth - feeling good about ourselves</li><li>The need for a Social Magnet - an active, nurturing group</li><li>The need to be Rewarded</li><li>The need to feel Empowered - in control of ourselves</li></ol>

COMMUNITY & The 6 Ingredients

If you are motivated you will build lasting changes but if your pleasure is more important than your goal, you won't.Use The Big Three to make steps and goals more important than your pleasure.<ol><li>Money</li><li>Social connections</li><li>Health</li></ol>Ask yourself if it is important to change your behavior for better health, relationships, or more money and use the answer to leverage the other forces to continue to make positive changes in your life.

IMPORTANT & The Big Three

We all enjoy doing things that are easy to do. Sometimes this is a problem and other times it's a boon.Don't underestimate small changes in the environment that can lead to big changes in behavior. Want to eat healthier? Remove unhealthy food from your home.We can also avoid "choice paralysis" by limiting our available choices and avoid indecisiveness by creating a road map with a realistic action plan to make change a no brainer.

EASY Does It

Change begins with action. Change your behavior and the mind will follow, including our feelings.<ul><li>Body movements such as posture and simply nodding our head when listening to something can influence how we think and feel.</li><li>Taking note of physiology and trying to make it positive when beginning a change can have lasting effects.</li><li>Keep in mind that our emotions and physiology are interconnected. If we couldn't frown, we would generally feel happier.</li><li>Try changing speech to link our identity to have greater weight. Try telling yourself, "Don't be a cheater" instead of, "Don't cheat".</li></ul>

NEUROHACKS

Pin point what is important and create rewards to help motivate yourself.Use the "The Big Three" from Important but also think of these 5 ideas:<ul><li>Make it fun!</li><li>Avoid fear and punishments.</li><li>Don't reward things you already enjoy because it may backfire.</li><li>Appeal to psychology and emotions, NOT logic alone.</li><li>Make the activity itself rewarding</li></ul>Quick fixes and Trick fixesQuick fixes use Stepladders and Easy to provide fast, positive reinforcement to help maintain motivation.Trick fixes use intermittent rewards to wean ourselves off of rewards once we get comfortable with our new habit.

CAPTIVATING Rewards & Two Fixes

We are creatures of habit and just as Easy helps us change, repetition helps engrain behaviors. But be careful because this works for good and bad habits. <ul><li>Repeating a behavior at the same time and place every day is a powerful technique the military employs to train soldiers. </li><li>Try creating an alarm to help begin your new routine.</li></ul>Magnetic behaviors are linked behaviors that make it easier to do a hard task. Linking putting on running shoes (easy) with going for a run (hard) is one example.

ENGRAINED Habits & Magnetic Behavior

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.

Strategies to make lasting changes in our lives and improve ourselves.

#1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller An award-winning psychologist and director of the UCLA Center for Digital Behavior shows everyone how to make real, lasting change in their lives in this exciting work of popular psychology that goes beyond The Power of Habit with science and practical strategies that can alter their problem behaviors—forever. Whether it’s absent-minded mistakes at work, a weakness for junk food, a smart phone addiction, or a lack of exercise, everyone has some bad habit or behavior that they’d like to change. But wanting to change and actually doing it—and sticking with it—are two very different things. Dr. Sean Young, an authoritative new voice in the field of behavioral science, knows a great deal about our habits—how we make them and how we can break them. Stick with It is his fascinating look at the science of behavior, filled with crucial knowledge and practical advice to help everyone successfully alter their actions and improve their lives. As Dr. Young explains, you don’t change behavior by changing the person, you do it by changing the process. Drawing on his own scientific research and that of other leading experts in the field, he explains why change can be difficult and identifies the crucial forces that combine to make transformation permanent, from the right way to create new habits to how to harness emotional meaning to motivate change. He also helps us understand how the mind often interferes with creating lasting change and how we can outsmart it, including using "neurohacks" to shortcut the brain’s counterproductive instincts. In addition he provides a powerful corrective to the decades old science of habits, offering a next generation discussion of how habits can change behavior with the right approach. Packed with pragmatic exercises and stories of real people who have used them successfully, Stick with It shows that it is possible to control spending, stick to a diet, become more social, exercise regularly, stop compulsively checking e-mail, and overcome problem behaviors—forever.

Stick with It

Craig Sheffield