On the Habit Trail
What habit have you tried to make stick, but dropped and left behind like a Clif bar in a mud puddle? Read more books? Go to the gym? Keep a frickin’ gratitude journal already?
Knowing how to take your resolution all the way to routine is one of your most important mental health tools. If you repeat a behavior enough, it’ll actually create new connections in your brain that make it easier and easier. And then that sticky habit will be yours! But… how?
Find balance in bipolar.
As a mental health coach with an action-oriented program, I will help you map out and manage your own long-term stability. I was diagnosed with Bipolar 1 in 1998, and have been stable for over 20 years. You—yes, you!—can have a stable life, too. Find more information at rocksteadycoach.com
Ellen Forney is an artist, author, and mental health coach. Her work includes bestselling graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, and mental health guidebook, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life, selected by JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) as "Best Graphic Medicine of 2018.”
Her work has been published and reviewed in The Washington Post, Psychology Today, The Guardian, Bipolar Magazine, National Public Radio, and more. Her TED talk is Finding balance in bipolar.
Transcript
Panel 1: Hey, remember that New Year's resolution? Well! Dust that thing off, because actually… You can do it! How to make that habit habitual!!
Panel 2: First: any idea where you got stuck? Kept forgetting, too huge, didn't feel like me, didn't have time, expense, dunno? Perfectly reasonable!
Panel 3: Negotiate with those blocks! (Puzzles!) Kept forgetting? Sticky note on the door! Too huge? Divide into smaller steps. Didn't feel like me? Dance class instead of going to the gym. Didn't have time? Cut out or shorten some thing else. Expense? Online videos. Dunno? It's OK! Let's take a step back…
Panel 4: Building a habit has three parts: NOODGE, a trigger for your habit to be (for example, a certain context or time); DO THE THING! Your habit to be; PRIZE!! Upon thing finished. (Officially, these are cue, behavior, and reward.)
Panel 5: Pick a good noodge. Make it something that will reliably happen, like a particular situation (red lights on a commute) or a particular time (wind down for bed at 10:15pm), and ideally builds on a habit you already have, like working out after walking the dog, or doing your mood chart before morning meds.
Panel 6: Do the thing. Be specific about your goals. Start small. Start teensy! Make it convenient. Commit to a span of time.
Panel 7: (cont'd) Have an accountability partner. Remember your personal why for this goal. (Yours! Not just a should.)
Panel 8: Have a good prize. Props from a coach, props from yourself, make a rewards card, something easy and consistent. It may perhaps be its own reward!
Panel 9: Ready? Give it a go! Yes! Starting when? Pick one of these: -Now! -The first of next month! -An anniversary coming up soon! -Or, your choice! Now go bite that 'bit! Raaar!
