Making a commitment to yourself is just half the battle. In all likelihood, you can’t make a lasting change on your own. That’s why it’s important to build a support system of people who will help you follow through with this goal.
People can either make or break your success. When you include them in a habit change, you’ll get assistance whenever you feel temptation or a moment of weakness.
The simplest way to get started with a support system is to maintain an accountability journal.
With this tool, you track your day-to-day attempt to change a habit, including every trigger, impulse or metric. The more information you include, the easier it will be to understand what causes you to do the bad habit.
Depending on the nature of the routine, here are a few things to include in an accountability journal:
• Number of times you do the bad habit
• Amount of time you spend doing this activity
• Total calories, broken down by individual foods
• Current weight and/or body mass index
• Feelings, emotions and impulses
• Challenges you’re currently experiencing
EXAMPLE:
Let’s say you want to quit smoking. Every day, you would set a maximum number of cigarettes to smoke. Then you’d record the amount you actually smoked as well as the feelings and impulses that led you to light up.
The key with an accountability journal is to provide 100 percent disclosure. You need to write down everything—even if you fail with your goal.
CASE STUDY
My bad habit didn’t require a lot of accountability. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, either I put away the cellphone or I failed to do it. What I did do to be accountable was use Lift.do to track this replacement habit.
With Lift, you create a profile and add the habits you’d like to build. What makes this app different from others is it has a social component. Members can monitor the achievement of other members. They can cheer each other on, send messages and generally help one another out. In essence, Lift offers a built-in support system of people who hold you accountable for your habit change.
Unfortunately, only five people participate in the “no cell phone before sleep” habit, but even this small amount of tracking helped me stay consistent.