Moving from Intention to Action, Part 1
Make no mistake - changing behavior is hard.
It is hard to understand what to change and then know how to change it.
It is hard to overcome habits and establish new routines.
It is hard to do things that are unfamiliar and feel overwhelming.
It is hard to find the positive when challenges feel insurmountable.
Not only is the process of change complex, complicated, and messy, it takes time, energy, and commitment. It often means acknowledging deep fears and emotions. We have to be willing to investigate the beliefs we hold about ourselves and hold ourselves accountable to manage them. We need to uncover personal core values. We have to face breaking old patterns. We have to take risks.
What if I am willing to do all those things and changing behavior is still hard? What is holding me back?
Decades of research has shown that it is not simply lack of commitment or willpower that hold us back from making behavior changes. In order to change a behavior, we have to give up a behavior - one that’s been formed and ingrained through habit and repetition. This is largely attributed to neural patterns in our brains that become deeply grooved over time, solidifying habits so behaviors become automatic. This serves us well when it comes to driving - we have been practicing for decades and can hold a conversation while also being able to stop at stoplights or accelerate into traffic. Where this does not serve us well, however, is when we want to replace an unhealthy behavior with a healthier one, especially when the unhealthy behavior has become habitual.
Despite this, changing behavior is absolutely possible - it just may require a different approach than one tried in the past. When it comes to ingrained, habitual behaviors, an analysis of behavior change strategies highlights that there are actually only a few strategies that work to create change, and even fewer that work well. Knowing this can bring a semblance of sanity to our behavior change experiences! Our inability to break those unhealthy behaviors or habits is more likely the effect of using an incompatible strategy than a weakness in willpower or an inability to commit.
Over the next few months, we will be leveraging research to focus on the behavior change strategies that do work - strategies that will help us initiate and execute change. Ultimately, we can change behavior, especially when we have the right tools at hand. Let’s start with exploring intentions.
Setting Intentions for Behavior Change
Now, the general idea of setting an intention may not be new, and it is a strategy that many of us have tried. Maybe you have set an “intention” to start a new exercise routine, decrease screen time, or address chronic stress. Or maybe you have set an “intention” to be kind, make good choices, or eat healthy. You may have even started some new behaviors once you set an intention! In the end, though, even with the best intention, you may have experienced that new behaviors didn’t quite stick.
How, then, does setting intention work?
The gap between intention and action is one of the most extensively studied topics in behavioral science. Why? Simply put - because moving from intention to action is hard, just as we explored. We can set an intention to eat healthy, for example, but if we do not also establish the sequence, routines, and supports we need to make healthy eating occur, the intention is not likely to change behavior. Yet, setting intentions can be an effective strategy. The key is that intentions have to be set deliberately, mindfully, and with an understanding of purpose and design. Intentions themselves are not, after all, goals -- intentions are the starting point for that which you wish to create.
In his book, The Mindful Brain, Daniel J. Siegel explains that, “intentions create an integrated state of priming, a gearing up of our neural system to be in the mode of that specific intention: we can be readying to receive, to sense, to focus, to behave in a certain manner.” In other words, intentions allow us to prepare ourselves and then serve as catalysts so we can achieve something new. When we set an intention, we are creating alignment between the vision we have of living as our best selves, the goals we hope to accomplish, and the daily routine we construct to make it all happen. Powerful stuff, right?
So how can this help us in changing behavior?
To change behavior using intentions, it is necessary to consider two things:
How do you want to show up in the world and what is the life you intend (or envision) to lead?
And,
What are the “I will” statements that will help you implement this intention?
To set intentions effectively, we have to dive deeply within ourselves, examine our purpose and attitude about life, envision living as our best self, and then consider what it will take to make it happen. It is through intention that we can make a deep commitment and investment, structured with specific routines, environments, and supports, that will serve as the foundation for changing behavior. Yes, changing behavior is hard. But through meaningful intention, one that purposefully and authentically connects to who we are and who we hope to be, we are empowered to create the life that we hope to live.