Happy Thought for 21 August 2026

 Have a Happy Thought:

We’re past the halfway point of the year, which means very few if any New Year’s Resolutions are still going.

That being said, you don’t need to wait for a new calendar to make some change in your life.

In fact, making a change at a significant date is one of only 93 effective behaviour change techniques available to you (ok, not all 93 are as effective as others, but…)

If the change you want to make is to read the actual source material… knock yourself out: Behaviour change techniques: the development and evaluation of a taxonomic method for reporting and describing behaviour change interventions (a suite of five studies involving consensus methods, randomised controlled trials and analysis of qualitative data) | NIHR Journals Library

Or you can trust this quick summary of the 16 categories (93 total techniques):

·      scheduled consequences (10),

·      reward/threat (7),

·      repetition/replacement (7),

·      antecedents (4),

·      associations (8),

·      covert learning (3),

·      natural consequences (6),

·      feedback and monitoring (5),

·      goals and planning (9),

·      social support (3),

·      comparison of behaviour (3),

·      self-belief (4),

·      comparison of outcomes (3),

·      identity (5),

·      shaping knowledge (4)

·     adjunctive (4).

[These names are all fairly descriptive to me, but if you want to explore ways to motivate your brain to build those new pathways, there is a free (and collects no data) app that you can download, BCT Taxonomy by David Crane PhD] 

So for example for scheduled consequences, you could set up a swear jar (I won’t judge if your goal is to swear more or swear less – your goals are your own!)

Or you can use a reward, like when you give your dog a treat for doing the trick (sit, lie down, etc).

        Yes, what this research shows is that many of the ways we train our dogs also work on humans. Is anyone really surprised?

Or you can just write down what you are currently doing – sometimes just being aware of your current habits can help reinforce the ones you like… and start to avoid the ones you don’t. (Anyone who has ever been embarrassed about how many snacks they eat while doing serious meal tracking will know what this means…)

Or, you can associate a behaviour with what comes before. Like shutting down for the weekend when you get a “congratulations, you’ve made it through the week” email.

 

You’re welcome, have a great weekend 😊

 

 

Thanks to this fascinating Ologies episode for bringing us this knowledge: Noctohabitology (SLEEP PROCRASTINATION) with Dr. Vanessa “Nessy” Hill — alie ward.