Sharing your goal with friends to stay accountable or making a more public commitment, on social media for example, can be helpful tools for some people, Bermúdez said.
Reframing the benefits of a goal can also be a powerful tool. If your goal is exercise-focused but the physical and psychological benefits aren’t motivation on their own, reframing time spent exercising as, “Oh, this is a chance for me to catch up with my podcasts or with the music that I love, or it’s a chance for me to go outside,” can be helpful, Bermúdez said. Conversely, to break a habit, “focus on the negatives of the tempting action,” he said, because it will start to look increasingly less appealing.
Bermúdez said it’s important to monitor if the strategy you’ve chosen is working and, if not, to be open to trying others. You may even need to reevaluate the goal itself.
