When it comes to behaviour change – whether it’s breaking old habits, building new ones, or improving the ones you’ve got – I have a powerful analogy for you.
An elephant rider guiding their elephant down a path in the forest.
The Rider loves to contemplate, analyze and plan, often with a bias towards the negative focusing on problems instead of solutions. The rider can be easily exhausted and frustrated by uncertainty.
This is the rational part of your brain, and you know the rider if you’ve ever laid out a great health and fitness plan.
The Elephant is stubborn, needs reassurance, and is easily demoralized by obstacles. It’s also easily spooked and seeks immediate gratification, often refusing to do things with delayed gratification.
This is the emotional part of your brain, and you know the elephant as the saboteur of your well laid plans.
The Path is how both the rider and elephant get to their destination. No matter how hard the rider tries, the elephant will always follow the path of least resistance, even if it’s going the wrong way.
This is your environment – from the people you hang out with to the food in your house.
When it comes to making change, recognize there are 3 variables that need to be addressed – the rider, the elephant, and the path.
Relying on willpower alone is only focusing on the rider. The rider, perched atop the elephant, looks like it’s in control, but it’s not.
It’s like trying to push a 6-ton elephant in a direction it doesn’t want to go.
You’ll push and push, and the elephant will barely notice.
Here’s what to do instead.
- Give the rider clear direction and specific goals so that the rational side knows exactly what steps to take to get to the destination. Investigate what works and repeat it, while thinking of small, specific behaviours to accomplish.
This is where working with an expert comes in – they help establish the end goal and know the path to get there. - Motivate the elephant, the emotional side, by finding the emotional connection to the change. Understand your why, feel your feelings, and turn the person you want to become your identity by making small changes that no longer spook the elephant.
The most effective motivation is intrinsic, meaning created by you, and is found by truly connecting to why you want to change. - Shape the path, the process of change, easier by adjusting the environment or creating habits that help support the transition. When the environment changes and healthy changes become the path of least resistance, the elephant will naturally want to take that path.
Changing your environment is the easiest way to move the elephant in the direction you want to move. It’s the same advice if you want to quit smoking – stop hanging out with people who smoke and go places where people smoke.
Whether you are starting a workout routine, changing a nutrition habit, adjusting your bedtime, reducing your alcohol, or taking up a new hobby, keep the above in mind.
The rider needs clear direction.
The elephant needs motivation by reducing the size of the change.
And make the path you want to follow the path of least resistance.
If you want to make a health and fitness change, and need a hand, click HERE to set up a call and we’ll connect.
