This post is about the Power of Habit. Charles Duhigg has written about habit from the eyes of different experts and researchers. The take away or BIG IDEA that I got from reading this book was the idea of a keystone habit. A keystone habit was a habit that when executed would have positive effects in other areas of your life.

A keystone habit helps other habits get better!

For example, if you started exercising regularly your eating habits would also change. If you had dinner as a family regularly your finances would improve, your kids would get better grades in school and the overall mental health of your family would measurably improve.

When looking to set a goal or make a change start with a keystone habit. 

What is your goal for your patient? What are their goals? At the end of the visit we can help them reframe their goal to make it more attainable.  We can also ask them to tell someone.

“You are 75% more likely to achieve your goal if you tell someone”

- Dr. Ediger, Pain Psychologist

We can help our patients do better by encouraging them to tell someone in their inner circle. 

Telling someone in your inner circle that you have a goal and what it is almost doubles your chance of success. This is without any accountability. Putting your goal ‘out there’ is a great start to completing it.

Tips:

• When setting a goal look for a keystone habit. Want to lose weight? Focus on one thing such as regular exercise. The areas like eating habits and what we eat will change too!
• Tell someone!

Finally, treat each goal as a living goal. Give yourself freedom to fail and have times of inconsistency. Your goal is not dead the day you missed working out.

Don’t give up on your goal! It is a good one… because it’s yours.

Interested in the book? Here is a link.