Behavior Change

NOTE: The SMART series of posts is best read from the first post. Start with Get SMART - Look yourself in the i - and read from there.

NOTE: The SMART series is best read from the first post. Start with Get SMART - Look yourself in the i - and read from there.

Achieving a wellness goal can often be as exciting as scoring a soccer goal - maybe not quite as vocal as that famous Spanish Soccer commentator's signature screeeeeeeeeeem of joy - but still something that feels pretty good! And here's the thing - even if you don't achieve the goal you have set for yourself (NOOOOOO!!!!!!) your "failure" can still be viewed as something positive (YEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!). It all depends on how you choose to think about it. William James, a 19th Century philosopher who also wrote influential books on the then young science of psychology, wrote

Taking an asset-based or positive approach to life is often viewed it seems as a 'glass half empty, glass half full' situation. But I think of it as a much broader concept than that.

Back in 2000 when I was an assistant professor at Arizona State University, I was invited to be first author on a book chapter in a major publication called The Handbook of Health Psychology. The title of the chapter was "Effects of physical activity on physical and psychological health:  Implications for exercise adherence and psychophysiological mechanisms" (A pretty long and involved title I admit, but then this was a pretty long and involved book - I was actually Chapter 38 out of 51).

FUN! I was thinking about that word the other day. I keep reading that when people want to be more active they should 'make it fun' or 'find something that is fun' or even 'find something you enjoy'. I saw these same kind of suggestions in some of this year's recycled 'Ten Sure-Fire Tips' to stick to your New Year's exercise program (Déjà vu all over again?). Of course if you can find an exercise that is Fun, then you are well on your way to a long-term love affair with exercise and your active lifestyle is virtually assured.

Welcome to teleosity - 'a sense of moving toward a goal or an inescapable conclusion'. Speaking about goals. how about a new way of resolving instead of resolving anew? After all didn't we resolve much the same thing last year? Instead of (once again) studying 'ten tips for sure-fire ways to keep your resolutions'.