March 20, 2024 • 25 mins
Did you know there are five specific tenets for supporting lasting behavior change? 🤔
Did you know a lot of popular approaches to health do NOT focus on what we know works? 🤯
Today, we're talking about the following keys to promoting health sustaining behaviors:
- Spark intrinsic motivation to inspire and maintain change.
- Reinforce behaviors over outcomes – focus on what they can control.
- Teach practical and scalable skills emphasizing flexibility and personalization.
- Promote mindset shifts to prioritize sustainable behavior change.
- Build self-esteem and self-efficacy by creating opportunities for success.
We'll leave the diets and financial bets at the door, focusing instead on what truly fosters lasting change.
Join me on this enlightening journey as we emphasize the significance of intrinsic motivation and reveal how all-or-nothing thinking can undermine your progress.
As a national board-certified health and wellness coach and certified personal trainer, my insights into focusing on the controllable aspects of behavior over unpredictable outcomes will shift your perspective on what it means to lead a healthier life.
We'll speak to the importance of skill-building and cultivating self-compassion and self-efficacy, celebrating the small victories that culminate in transformative change.
Equip yourself with the mindset and tools necessary to revolutionize your approach to health and habits. Take advantage of this compelling episode that could redefine your wellness trajectory.
Resources:
Five Keys to Promoting Health Sustaining Behaviors: https://heathersayerslehman.com/white-paper/ or https://overcomingu.com/white-paper/
3D Journaling Guide: https://heathersayerslehman.com/journal/
…..
Don’t know how to start effectively journaling? 📖
Download your free 3D Journaling Guide here: https://heathersayerslehman.com/journal/
Ready to improve your self-care game? 💕
Download 3 Foundational Meta-Skills for Healthy Living that Lasts here: https://heathersayerslehman.com/meta-skills/
Trying to figure out if a program or activity will actually promote healthy behavior change? 🙋🏻♀️
Download Keys to Promoting Health Sustaining Behaviors here: https://overcomingu.com/white-paper/
Looking for a personal health coach, well-being speaker, or health education for employees? 🙌🏼
Visit https://heathersayerslehman.com/work-with-me/ for more information.
Need support overcoming emotional eating? Work through my guidebook, Don’t Eat It. DEAL With It! Second Edition: Your Guidebook on How to STOP Eating Your Emotions, to create a healthier relationship with food. ✍🏼
Follow below for consistent info on creating healthy habits without rules, obsession, or exhaustion: ✅
Newsletter: https://heathersayerslehman.com/subscribe/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi and welcome to the Air we Breathe.
I'm your host, heatherSears-Laman.
I'm a national board certifiedhealth and wellness coach,
certified intuitive eatingcounselor and certified personal
trainer.
I help you get organized andconsistent with healthy habits,
without rules, obsession orexhaustion.
The Air we Breathe a findingwellbeing that works for you is
a podcast created to help youestablish a trusted foundation
(00:22):
of doable healthy habits andsmart self-care skills that can
endure every season and last youa lifetime.
My guests and I will share waysthat you can focus on your
physical and mental health withpurpose, flexibility and ease.
This podcast may contain talkabout eating disorders and
disordered eating.
We minimize mentions ofspecific behaviors and numbers,
(00:43):
but it's still a topicnonetheless.
There also could be somesquares and or adult language
here.
Choose wisely if those areproblematic for you.
Hi everyone, today I'm going totalk about the keys to
promoting health-sustainingbehaviors.
(01:04):
Does that sound boring enoughfor you?
Hopefully you will nerd outwith me for a little bit,
because basically, when I talkabout promoting
health-sustaining behaviors, I'mtalking about promoting healthy
habits.
But there are ways that we goabout it that seem helpful, that
(01:24):
are not helpful and actuallymake it harder for us to perform
these habits.
But there are real tenets ofbehavior change at play and it's
important that we are able toask some questions to see if
this is going to supportsustainable behavior change.
Now, why in the world do thingsexist that promote quote unquote
(01:45):
healthy habits or behaviorchange?
In theory, but it doesn't workout that way.
Usually profit, because if I'mtrying to sell you something, I
need to package it and I need tohave everything that you need.
It's all complete, everything'sin there and it's got all the
details, because then that makesa comprehensive product that
(02:08):
you can buy.
It does not mean that thisworks at all.
There are tons of incrediblyprofitable things.
I'll say whole authority is agreat example of completely
unsustainable practices thatthen now people are convinced.
Oh, I did it for 30 days, ofcourse, what are people dreaming
(02:29):
of?
They're dreaming of day 31,which is pancakes and pizza and
dairy milkshakes.
But it's also packaged as, ohmy gosh, it's going to really
help me change my behaviors.
It's not Good luck making it to30 days anyway, but that's not
its design and it doesn't followany tenets of sustainable
(02:54):
behavior change.
I want to.
If we're looking at akaleidoscope, am I turning the
lens a little bit because I wantthings to look different and I
want you to be able to askquestions as you're looking to
pursue healthy habits, to see isthis a route?
I want to go in the first placeBecause we all know how much
(03:17):
time, how much energy we putinto trying to create habits and
behavior change, and nobodywants to waste their time or
their money and I totally get it, I don't either.
So I have on my websites thekeys to promoting health,
sustaining behaviors.
So if you go toovercomingyoucom, just the
(03:39):
letter, you, and there's a baron the top where you can
download keys to promotinghealth, sustaining behaviors.
If you go toheathersayerslaymancom backslash
white dash paper you candownload it there as well, and
basically it's just gotquestions to ask, because I
(03:59):
think that when we are kickingthe tires and thinking about
something, we don't know whatquestions to ask to be able to
suss out if this is eveneffective or not, and so I'm
giving you some questions thatyou can ask to see if this is
going to be helpful or not.
So do download that.
Obviously, this information isgoing to be in the show notes as
(04:20):
well, but I think it's handy tohave into my corporate wellness
peeps when you are looking atnew programming.
Let's just say you've got avendor coming in and they're
talking about this.
They've got the razzle, dazzle,slides, all the outcomes, blah,
blah, blah.
Fine, you can ask thesequestions to see if it's going
(04:43):
to support sustainable behaviorchange and who doesn't like to
get some questions.
But also your vendors should beable to answer these questions
and you should have thatinformation as you move forward
to make a decision.
So I use this also for myselfto vet anything that I'm
(05:05):
building, because I need to makesure I'm helping people create
sustainable, healthy habits.
So, whether you create content,whether you are just a user,
whether you're a corporatewellness person like all five of
these pieces will be veryhelpful for you.
Okay, diving right in the first.
(05:25):
So there's five keys.
First key spark intrinsicmotivation to inspire and
maintain change.
So basically, if I'm talkingabout intrinsic motivation, I am
going to contrast that withextrinsic motivation that is
happening from outside of usversus motivation that we are
(05:47):
creating ourselves.
So extrinsic motivation can bemany things.
We may have someone in our lifewho gives us feedback that we
need to be changing.
I don't like that one at all.
In corporate wellness, we mayhave an employer that looks like
(06:10):
you've got some healthconditions or looks like your
BMI is out of whack.
You need to change thatextrinsic motivation.
Also, it's characteristic aswell.
It could be ooh, we'll give youan incentive if you change it,
and the other side of the stickof oh, we'll charge you more if
(06:30):
you don't change it.
So we see extrinsic motivationeverywhere and a lot of people
like just listening to somethingabout that stupid diet bets,
where then you bet someone aboutlosing weight.
I can't say enough bad thingsabout that as a concept.
But also, clearly, it's relyingon extrinsic motivation because
(06:54):
you're betting someone that youcan change something.
And again, I guess people do itover and over again because it
doesn't work.
I don't know who's using that.
Anyway, intrinsic motivationthat we have from ourselves for
ourselves, creates much longerlasting, more inspiring change.
(07:17):
Extrinsic motivation can leadto burnout, but it also leads to
attrition of just quitting.
So I worked many years ago atthis company, very briefly, and
they had this big weight losschallenge.
I feel like I should date this2011.
(07:39):
So it was a long time ago.
Do these things still existtoday?
They do so anyway.
The winner, and again, this is2011.
The winner got six grand.
So obviously that's a bunch ofmoney.
Who wouldn't want that?
And I had started right beforethis.
So I got thrown right into itand I was like, wait, what?
(08:01):
What was happening?
Is this what we're doing?
And oh boy.
So I had 120 people sign up,which is really a pretty big
chunk of their employees, and itwas long I won't remember it
was at least like three monthslong, for sure.
So again, it's just riddledwith problems from the jump.
(08:25):
But the extrinsic motivationhere is cash.
People are going to win thesixth grand.
So 120 people sign up, how manypeople do you think finished?
12.
Okay, so they had 90% attrition, 90% of people quit, 10% of
people actually finished.
And then it was an actualsubjective review of whoever
(08:50):
they thought finished the bestand wrote the best essay.
It was a mess top to bottom andmany people lost a lot of
weight and still didn't winwhich.
There was one person inparticular that I knew was so
angry and bitter that they hadworked so hard to win this thing
(09:12):
that they were literally likespite eating Forget my employer
F this so stupid and reallytaking all of their results
because they were mad at theiremployer.
I will also say I shouldn't saytaking their results.
They were probably super hungryfrom restricting their diet for
months.
(09:32):
And this is what happens whenyou restrict your diet for
months, like you're going tobench, absolutely so anyway,
long story short, that extrinsicmotivation that on the first
day people were so jazzed aboutwas not enough to make people
press the finish line.
But then, certainly of thepeople who did finish, their
(09:57):
results were not sustainablebecause of the way that they
went about them as well, messtop to bottom.
But people really like to think, oh my gosh, if I had that
hanging in front of me.
No, and we've certainly seenfrom biggest loser results and
the research they've done onthat no, people don't.
That type of weight loss is notsustainable.
(10:19):
Most weight loss is notsustainable.
So, anyway.
So there are questions you canask and what is the why here and
how is that supported?
Because if I want to look tomyself for intrinsic motivation,
so I have been an exerciser.
So that makes me a poor exampleof to talk about how you keep
(10:42):
exercising, because I just doand, just like people, just do
other things and I thinksometimes that.
So my reasons are.
So I just suppose I like beingactive.
I did dance and sports andelementary school and then I
(11:03):
moved to the gym when I was 15because I don't have any
athletic ability or danceability apparently.
So off to the gym I go becauseI like being active.
And then there's all kinds oflike diet, culture stuff messed
up in there over the years andso when I had to go through
eating disorder recovery and getreal with myself about like why
are you exercising anyway?
(11:24):
I was like I like it.
I like to lift heavy stuff.
I feel better once I'm up andmobile and moving around.
I like to do it in the morningbecause I like to start my day
that way and I feel more loose,less tight, and I also feel like
I wake up pretty anxious.
(11:45):
So I feel like, okay, now I didsomething and I feel good about
what I've accomplished.
So my why really is aboutsupporting my health.
I have health conditions.
I worry about that because if Ilook at my family lineage or
look at my mom's healthconditions, it was nothing but a
downward spiral and I don'twant that.
(12:07):
I'm trying to do the best withwhat I've got and being active
as part of that.
Also from a mental healthperspective, I think it's
extremely helpful.
So, anyway, like going downyour own rabbit hole about why
and how does that link to youand your inner self, and not
(12:27):
just, oh, I want to be able toalways fit into these genes or
another extrinsic.
I don't want this person sayingsomething to me about my size
or my weight, but what are yourreasons for wanting to do this?
Because, again, it's not likeanybody's walking around all day
asking you like what'simportant to you, what do you
think?
So it's important to askyourself have you ever felt like
(12:53):
the do-it-yourself approach toimproving your healthy habits
ends up doing nothing exceptmaking you feel overwhelmed,
guilty and defeated?
Have you been struggling tofind sustainable routines that
work for your responsibilities,lifestyle, budget and personal
preferences?
You don't need more rules,influencers or structured
(13:13):
programs.
Let me help you discover whatyou want, what works for you and
how to maintain healthy habitsduring the ever-changing
circumstances of your life.
If you're ready to createsystems that stick head to
heathersayerslaymancom,backslash health dash coaching
and click, let's do it.
(13:35):
Also, the questions of thingsthat support intrinsic
motivation are autonomy, purposeand competence.
So autonomy is you getting tochoose what you want to do?
Purpose is why is thismeaningful to you and competence
is feeling as you have somesort of mastery over what you're
(13:57):
doing.
So these things can beincredibly motivating because
when I have learned somethingnew I did box pre-pandemic and
it was great because I had tolearn Like, yeah, we hooked All
of that Like I didn't know.
And it had more excitement forme because I've worked out for a
long time and I got to learnsomething new.
(14:18):
So really looking at thosepieces I think can be helpful
when we are looking at intrinsicmotivation, but just asking the
question to yourself of what ismy intrinsic motivation.
Again, if you download the keys,you'll have the questions in
front of you and be able toanswer those a little more
thoroughly as well.
So the second key isreinforcing behaviors over
(14:44):
outcomes.
So focus on what you cancontrol and I talk about this a
lot because, again, outcome mygenes, fitting my weight,
lowering my A1c, dropping myblood pressure I cannot directly
control if that is going tohappen, but if I'm talking about
my blood pressure, I cancontrol if I'm trying to have
(15:06):
less sodium, I can control ifI'm trying to get in more
vegetables, if I'm trying tomove more, if I'm trying to
lower my stress.
All of those things I cancontrol and that should be my
focus.
Because, let's just say, I amdropping my blood pressure
slowly over time, which is great, but focusing on the behavior
(15:30):
piece of that is much morehelpful in the big picture.
Because what if I did thosethings for my high blood
pressure and I didn't lower it?
Does that mean what?
Give me a salt lick, I'm justgoing to have salt all day.
I'm not going to be active.
Forget these veggies.
It didn't work.
Hopefully not, because again,if we have a health condition
(15:50):
and we can't move the needle andthen perhaps we need medication
because hello genetics,environment many times we need a
medication I still want to dothe health sustaining behaviors
to support what is helpful.
So a behavior focus.
Third piece teach practical andscalable skills, emphasizing
(16:12):
flexibility and personalization.
So a big part of this isfinding what works for you, what
works for you, but reallylooking at skill building.
So if we look at something likeplanning, shopping, cooking,
that has a lot of skills in itand people underestimate that,
(16:34):
they judge themselves.
They're like why can't I dothis?
Why is this so hard?
And a lot of the skills.
There are so many skills that Ido not have and, for me,
organization is one skill I dohave.
Please don't ask me to back upa truck with a trailer on it,
because I can't do it.
Don't ask me to help on taxesno, thank you, can't do it.
(16:57):
And legal things like contractsI can't even read that, but I
can't do organization.
So, overall here, understandingthat as I start this new health
, sustaining behaviors, I'mgoing to need to build skills,
and that's okay.
Just like when I started boxing, oh boy, these are skills that
(17:19):
I need to learn now because Ineed to learn how to do them,
but I also need to learn how todo them safely and making sure
I'm taking care of my body inthe meantime, while I'm building
up these skills.
Looking at the skill buildingpiece, am I learning things and
in what way do I need to teach?
(17:40):
So again, if I'm looking atplanning shopping, cooking like
I love, certainly an Instagramaccount that does like meal prep
I don't even cook anymorebecause my husband cooks and I
still enjoy watching that, butthere are places that we can
learn mastery over some skills.
(18:02):
Fourth key promote mindsetshifts to prioritize sustainable
behavior change.
So mindset is it.
Mindset is so important and Ireally find that that a lot of
programs the mindset it's likebackwards.
(18:25):
It's having you focus on theoutcome because you've got to
get on a scale.
Okay, I'm supposed to befocusing on behaviors, not the
outcome, but many of them willreally push towards things that
you can't control Not helpful.
So I am always trying to walkpeople away from things like the
(18:45):
all or nothing, theperfectionism, because those
keep us very stuck in notpursuing health, sustaining
behaviors because we are quoteunquote not doing them right.
We are not doing enough.
Every sort of mean self-talkthing that you can think of is
something that goes into themindset shift piece and when
(19:09):
we're looking at behavior change, having a helpful, kind,
supportive, self-compassionatemindset is the way to keep doing
those behaviors.
So our final key is buildself-esteem and self-efficacy by
creating opportunities forsuccess.
(19:31):
I said this before.
I think I've said everythingbefore but really doing things
in a way that you feel goodabout yourself and also checking
that inner voice to have avoice that's saying to you good
job, you did it, you showed up,you laced your shoes, that's
(19:54):
something.
But being so mindful of thenegative voice of you missed
again or you sure didn't workvery hard or that's not the food
that we prepped last night thatyou're eating here, or you're
letting all of your stress getto you and now you're acting out
, but not being that voice andbeing a voice that is supportive
(20:19):
.
So self-esteem andself-efficacy is feeling like
you are competent.
And again it takes a kind voiceto tell ourselves like, oh my
gosh, do you remember when youfirst started and you couldn't
do this at all?
Do you remember when you firststarted cooking and you would
have one thing done before youeven started the other thing?
(20:42):
You remember how bad thattiming was.
Look at you Like now you'regetting it so much closer, but
it's really being a cheerleader,someone in you that's observing
your progress and is proud ofyou for it.
And I like to talk aboutself-esteem and self-efficacy
because this bleeds into thebehavior focus as well, because
(21:05):
I'm doing the things.
I may not have an outcome thatI set out to get, maybe the
scale isn't moving or my bloodpressure isn't changing, but you
know what I'm doing the thingsand I'm taking care of myself,
I'm treating myself as a friendand I feel good about that.
(21:26):
I think that the self-kindnessand self-compassion needed for
all of these pieces is sohelpful.
And it's also uncommon, becauseI feel like, especially like
the world of biohacking, wherethere's something new you need
(21:48):
to be doing, there's somethingdifferent from what you're doing
now.
There's something better outthere, like the whole thing is
just a blaring, like you are notenough, you are not doing
enough and you're not doing itright, not helpful.
Some people love it and goahead and go for it.
I feel like I hear notenoughness in that all of the
(22:15):
time, and people that may not bevery happy and they are chasing
happiness, contentness,peacefulness by doing this.
Next newest thing Also beforethere's even a lot of evidence
on that.
Next newest thing Fastingbecame the big biohack.
Next newest thing Now thatpeople have been studying it
(22:38):
long enough, when you get to ayear, there's really no
difference in health benefitswith fasting, between fasting
and caloric restriction, andeverybody was convinced like
this is the way.
So I just don't even listen toa lot of those.
Well, here's the newest thing,because 30 years in the business
(23:00):
, everything comes around againand there's really nothing new
under the sun.
So any who?
So those are the five keys topromoting health, sustaining
behavior.
So again, you might havelistened, because you're
changing it and you have to likethe language when you download
the sheet is towards people whoare asking if they are more in
(23:21):
the corporate wellness realm,but you can absolutely modify to
ask these yourself.
I'm going to repeat them.
So spark intrinsic motivation toinspire and maintain change.
Reinforce behaviors overoutcomes.
Focus on what they can control.
Teach practical and scalableskills, emphasizing flexibility
and personalization what worksfor me.
(23:42):
Promote mindset shifts toprioritize sustainable behavior
change.
Build self esteem and selfefficacy by creating
opportunities for success.
So do look that over and thinkabout some of the things you're
doing, or maybe some plans youhave, and look, am I going about
(24:03):
this in a way that is going topromote long term change?
Because, again, you can doanything you want to promote
short term change.
I think it's more effective ifyou're focusing on long term
change, because we don't want tobe weight cycling, we don't
want to be dieting, we don'twant to do something Again.
That's why, like a 30 day,whatever is not it because we
(24:25):
want to do something that we canbe doing in five years, in 10
years.
So hopefully that's good readingfor you and also a great
opportunity to journal HeatherSayerslaymancom backslash
journal for my 3D journalingguide, to be able to walk your
way through these questions,because each of the keys on the
(24:49):
sheet has three differentquestions you can ask yourself.
I hope this is helpful as weall keep trying to march towards
our healthy habits and holdingthose for ourselves with
kindness and compassion.
Good luck to you.
Thanks so much for listeningtoday.
Do you know what would bereally fun if you popped over to
(25:10):
my Instagram at HeatherSayerslayman and dropped me a DM
and let me know what topics youwant me to cover?
Anything bugging you, somethingholding you up?
Please just let me know and Iwill tweak some content and get
an episode out just for you.
As always, please follow, show,or you can leave a five star
(25:30):
review on Apple or Spotify.
That would be fun too.
See you in the next episode.
Hi and welcome to the Air we Breathe.
I'm your host, heatherSears-Laman.
I'm a national board certifiedhealth and wellness coach,
certified intuitive eatingcounselor and certified personal
trainer.
I help you get organized andconsistent with healthy habits,
without rules, obsession orexhaustion.
The Air we Breathe a findingwellbeing that works for you is
a podcast created to help youestablish a trusted foundation
(00:22):
of doable healthy habits andsmart self-care skills that can
endure every season and last youa lifetime.
My guests and I will share waysthat you can focus on your
physical and mental health withpurpose, flexibility and ease.
This podcast may contain talkabout eating disorders and
disordered eating.
We minimize mentions ofspecific behaviors and numbers,
(00:43):
but it's still a topicnonetheless.
There also could be somesquares and or adult language
here.
Choose wisely if those areproblematic for you.
Hi everyone, today I'm going totalk about the keys to
promoting health-sustainingbehaviors.
(01:04):
Does that sound boring enoughfor you?
Hopefully you will nerd outwith me for a little bit,
because basically, when I talkabout promoting
health-sustaining behaviors, I'mtalking about promoting healthy
habits.
But there are ways that we goabout it that seem helpful, that
(01:24):
are not helpful and actuallymake it harder for us to perform
these habits.
But there are real tenets ofbehavior change at play and it's
important that we are able toask some questions to see if
this is going to supportsustainable behavior change.
Now, why in the world do thingsexist that promote quote unquote
(01:45):
healthy habits or behaviorchange?
In theory, but it doesn't workout that way.
Usually profit, because if I'mtrying to sell you something, I
need to package it and I need tohave everything that you need.
It's all complete, everything'sin there and it's got all the
details, because then that makesa comprehensive product that
(02:08):
you can buy.
It does not mean that thisworks at all.
There are tons of incrediblyprofitable things.
I'll say whole authority is agreat example of completely
unsustainable practices thatthen now people are convinced.
Oh, I did it for 30 days, ofcourse, what are people dreaming
(02:29):
of?
They're dreaming of day 31,which is pancakes and pizza and
dairy milkshakes.
But it's also packaged as, ohmy gosh, it's going to really
help me change my behaviors.
It's not Good luck making it to30 days anyway, but that's not
its design and it doesn't followany tenets of sustainable
(02:54):
behavior change.
I want to.
If we're looking at akaleidoscope, am I turning the
lens a little bit because I wantthings to look different and I
want you to be able to askquestions as you're looking to
pursue healthy habits, to see isthis a route?
I want to go in the first placeBecause we all know how much
(03:17):
time, how much energy we putinto trying to create habits and
behavior change, and nobodywants to waste their time or
their money and I totally get it, I don't either.
So I have on my websites thekeys to promoting health,
sustaining behaviors.
So if you go toovercomingyoucom, just the
(03:39):
letter, you, and there's a baron the top where you can
download keys to promotinghealth, sustaining behaviors.
If you go toheathersayerslaymancom backslash
white dash paper you candownload it there as well, and
basically it's just gotquestions to ask, because I
(03:59):
think that when we are kickingthe tires and thinking about
something, we don't know whatquestions to ask to be able to
suss out if this is eveneffective or not, and so I'm
giving you some questions thatyou can ask to see if this is
going to be helpful or not.
So do download that.
Obviously, this information isgoing to be in the show notes as
(04:20):
well, but I think it's handy tohave into my corporate wellness
peeps when you are looking atnew programming.
Let's just say you've got avendor coming in and they're
talking about this.
They've got the razzle, dazzle,slides, all the outcomes, blah,
blah, blah.
Fine, you can ask thesequestions to see if it's going
(04:43):
to support sustainable behaviorchange and who doesn't like to
get some questions.
But also your vendors should beable to answer these questions
and you should have thatinformation as you move forward
to make a decision.
So I use this also for myselfto vet anything that I'm
(05:05):
building, because I need to makesure I'm helping people create
sustainable, healthy habits.
So, whether you create content,whether you are just a user,
whether you're a corporatewellness person like all five of
these pieces will be veryhelpful for you.
Okay, diving right in the first.
(05:25):
So there's five keys.
First key spark intrinsicmotivation to inspire and
maintain change.
So basically, if I'm talkingabout intrinsic motivation, I am
going to contrast that withextrinsic motivation that is
happening from outside of usversus motivation that we are
(05:47):
creating ourselves.
So extrinsic motivation can bemany things.
We may have someone in our lifewho gives us feedback that we
need to be changing.
I don't like that one at all.
In corporate wellness, we mayhave an employer that looks like
(06:10):
you've got some healthconditions or looks like your
BMI is out of whack.
You need to change thatextrinsic motivation.
Also, it's characteristic aswell.
It could be ooh, we'll give youan incentive if you change it,
and the other side of the stickof oh, we'll charge you more if
(06:30):
you don't change it.
So we see extrinsic motivationeverywhere and a lot of people
like just listening to somethingabout that stupid diet bets,
where then you bet someone aboutlosing weight.
I can't say enough bad thingsabout that as a concept.
But also, clearly, it's relyingon extrinsic motivation because
(06:54):
you're betting someone that youcan change something.
And again, I guess people do itover and over again because it
doesn't work.
I don't know who's using that.
Anyway, intrinsic motivationthat we have from ourselves for
ourselves, creates much longerlasting, more inspiring change.
(07:17):
Extrinsic motivation can leadto burnout, but it also leads to
attrition of just quitting.
So I worked many years ago atthis company, very briefly, and
they had this big weight losschallenge.
I feel like I should date this2011.
(07:39):
So it was a long time ago.
Do these things still existtoday?
They do so anyway.
The winner, and again, this is2011.
The winner got six grand.
So obviously that's a bunch ofmoney.
Who wouldn't want that?
And I had started right beforethis.
So I got thrown right into itand I was like, wait, what?
(08:01):
What was happening?
Is this what we're doing?
And oh boy.
So I had 120 people sign up,which is really a pretty big
chunk of their employees, and itwas long I won't remember it
was at least like three monthslong, for sure.
So again, it's just riddledwith problems from the jump.
(08:25):
But the extrinsic motivationhere is cash.
People are going to win thesixth grand.
So 120 people sign up, how manypeople do you think finished?
12.
Okay, so they had 90% attrition, 90% of people quit, 10% of
people actually finished.
And then it was an actualsubjective review of whoever
(08:50):
they thought finished the bestand wrote the best essay.
It was a mess top to bottom andmany people lost a lot of
weight and still didn't winwhich.
There was one person inparticular that I knew was so
angry and bitter that they hadworked so hard to win this thing
(09:12):
that they were literally likespite eating Forget my employer
F this so stupid and reallytaking all of their results
because they were mad at theiremployer.
I will also say I shouldn't saytaking their results.
They were probably super hungryfrom restricting their diet for
months.
(09:32):
And this is what happens whenyou restrict your diet for
months, like you're going tobench, absolutely so anyway,
long story short, that extrinsicmotivation that on the first
day people were so jazzed aboutwas not enough to make people
press the finish line.
But then, certainly of thepeople who did finish, their
(09:57):
results were not sustainablebecause of the way that they
went about them as well, messtop to bottom.
But people really like to think, oh my gosh, if I had that
hanging in front of me.
No, and we've certainly seenfrom biggest loser results and
the research they've done onthat no, people don't.
That type of weight loss is notsustainable.
(10:19):
Most weight loss is notsustainable.
So, anyway.
So there are questions you canask and what is the why here and
how is that supported?
Because if I want to look tomyself for intrinsic motivation,
so I have been an exerciser.
So that makes me a poor exampleof to talk about how you keep
(10:42):
exercising, because I just doand, just like people, just do
other things and I thinksometimes that.
So my reasons are.
So I just suppose I like beingactive.
I did dance and sports andelementary school and then I
(11:03):
moved to the gym when I was 15because I don't have any
athletic ability or danceability apparently.
So off to the gym I go becauseI like being active.
And then there's all kinds oflike diet, culture stuff messed
up in there over the years andso when I had to go through
eating disorder recovery and getreal with myself about like why
are you exercising anyway?
(11:24):
I was like I like it.
I like to lift heavy stuff.
I feel better once I'm up andmobile and moving around.
I like to do it in the morningbecause I like to start my day
that way and I feel more loose,less tight, and I also feel like
I wake up pretty anxious.
(11:45):
So I feel like, okay, now I didsomething and I feel good about
what I've accomplished.
So my why really is aboutsupporting my health.
I have health conditions.
I worry about that because if Ilook at my family lineage or
look at my mom's healthconditions, it was nothing but a
downward spiral and I don'twant that.
(12:07):
I'm trying to do the best withwhat I've got and being active
as part of that.
Also from a mental healthperspective, I think it's
extremely helpful.
So, anyway, like going downyour own rabbit hole about why
and how does that link to youand your inner self, and not
(12:27):
just, oh, I want to be able toalways fit into these genes or
another extrinsic.
I don't want this person sayingsomething to me about my size
or my weight, but what are yourreasons for wanting to do this?
Because, again, it's not likeanybody's walking around all day
asking you like what'simportant to you, what do you
think?
So it's important to askyourself have you ever felt like
(12:53):
the do-it-yourself approach toimproving your healthy habits
ends up doing nothing exceptmaking you feel overwhelmed,
guilty and defeated?
Have you been struggling tofind sustainable routines that
work for your responsibilities,lifestyle, budget and personal
preferences?
You don't need more rules,influencers or structured
(13:13):
programs.
Let me help you discover whatyou want, what works for you and
how to maintain healthy habitsduring the ever-changing
circumstances of your life.
If you're ready to createsystems that stick head to
heathersayerslaymancom,backslash health dash coaching
and click, let's do it.
(13:35):
Also, the questions of thingsthat support intrinsic
motivation are autonomy, purposeand competence.
So autonomy is you getting tochoose what you want to do?
Purpose is why is thismeaningful to you and competence
is feeling as you have somesort of mastery over what you're
(13:57):
doing.
So these things can beincredibly motivating because
when I have learned somethingnew I did box pre-pandemic and
it was great because I had tolearn Like, yeah, we hooked All
of that Like I didn't know.
And it had more excitement forme because I've worked out for a
long time and I got to learnsomething new.
(14:18):
So really looking at thosepieces I think can be helpful
when we are looking at intrinsicmotivation, but just asking the
question to yourself of what ismy intrinsic motivation.
Again, if you download the keys,you'll have the questions in
front of you and be able toanswer those a little more
thoroughly as well.
So the second key isreinforcing behaviors over
(14:44):
outcomes.
So focus on what you cancontrol and I talk about this a
lot because, again, outcome mygenes, fitting my weight,
lowering my A1c, dropping myblood pressure I cannot directly
control if that is going tohappen, but if I'm talking about
my blood pressure, I cancontrol if I'm trying to have
(15:06):
less sodium, I can control ifI'm trying to get in more
vegetables, if I'm trying tomove more, if I'm trying to
lower my stress.
All of those things I cancontrol and that should be my
focus.
Because, let's just say, I amdropping my blood pressure
slowly over time, which is great, but focusing on the behavior
(15:30):
piece of that is much morehelpful in the big picture.
Because what if I did thosethings for my high blood
pressure and I didn't lower it?
Does that mean what?
Give me a salt lick, I'm justgoing to have salt all day.
I'm not going to be active.
Forget these veggies.
It didn't work.
Hopefully not, because again,if we have a health condition
(15:50):
and we can't move the needle andthen perhaps we need medication
because hello genetics,environment many times we need a
medication I still want to dothe health sustaining behaviors
to support what is helpful.
So a behavior focus.
Third piece teach practical andscalable skills, emphasizing
(16:12):
flexibility and personalization.
So a big part of this isfinding what works for you, what
works for you, but reallylooking at skill building.
So if we look at something likeplanning, shopping, cooking,
that has a lot of skills in itand people underestimate that,
(16:34):
they judge themselves.
They're like why can't I dothis?
Why is this so hard?
And a lot of the skills.
There are so many skills that Ido not have and, for me,
organization is one skill I dohave.
Please don't ask me to back upa truck with a trailer on it,
because I can't do it.
Don't ask me to help on taxesno, thank you, can't do it.
(16:57):
And legal things like contractsI can't even read that, but I
can't do organization.
So, overall here, understandingthat as I start this new health
, sustaining behaviors, I'mgoing to need to build skills,
and that's okay.
Just like when I started boxing, oh boy, these are skills that
(17:19):
I need to learn now because Ineed to learn how to do them,
but I also need to learn how todo them safely and making sure
I'm taking care of my body inthe meantime, while I'm building
up these skills.
Looking at the skill buildingpiece, am I learning things and
in what way do I need to teach?
(17:40):
So again, if I'm looking atplanning shopping, cooking like
I love, certainly an Instagramaccount that does like meal prep
I don't even cook anymorebecause my husband cooks and I
still enjoy watching that, butthere are places that we can
learn mastery over some skills.
(18:02):
Fourth key promote mindsetshifts to prioritize sustainable
behavior change.
So mindset is it.
Mindset is so important and Ireally find that that a lot of
programs the mindset it's likebackwards.
(18:25):
It's having you focus on theoutcome because you've got to
get on a scale.
Okay, I'm supposed to befocusing on behaviors, not the
outcome, but many of them willreally push towards things that
you can't control Not helpful.
So I am always trying to walkpeople away from things like the
(18:45):
all or nothing, theperfectionism, because those
keep us very stuck in notpursuing health, sustaining
behaviors because we are quoteunquote not doing them right.
We are not doing enough.
Every sort of mean self-talkthing that you can think of is
something that goes into themindset shift piece and when
(19:09):
we're looking at behavior change, having a helpful, kind,
supportive, self-compassionatemindset is the way to keep doing
those behaviors.
So our final key is buildself-esteem and self-efficacy by
creating opportunities forsuccess.
(19:31):
I said this before.
I think I've said everythingbefore but really doing things
in a way that you feel goodabout yourself and also checking
that inner voice to have avoice that's saying to you good
job, you did it, you showed up,you laced your shoes, that's
(19:54):
something.
But being so mindful of thenegative voice of you missed
again or you sure didn't workvery hard or that's not the food
that we prepped last night thatyou're eating here, or you're
letting all of your stress getto you and now you're acting out
, but not being that voice andbeing a voice that is supportive
(20:19):
.
So self-esteem andself-efficacy is feeling like
you are competent.
And again it takes a kind voiceto tell ourselves like, oh my
gosh, do you remember when youfirst started and you couldn't
do this at all?
Do you remember when you firststarted cooking and you would
have one thing done before youeven started the other thing?
(20:42):
You remember how bad thattiming was.
Look at you Like now you'regetting it so much closer, but
it's really being a cheerleader,someone in you that's observing
your progress and is proud ofyou for it.
And I like to talk aboutself-esteem and self-efficacy
because this bleeds into thebehavior focus as well, because
(21:05):
I'm doing the things.
I may not have an outcome thatI set out to get, maybe the
scale isn't moving or my bloodpressure isn't changing, but you
know what I'm doing the thingsand I'm taking care of myself,
I'm treating myself as a friendand I feel good about that.
(21:26):
I think that the self-kindnessand self-compassion needed for
all of these pieces is sohelpful.
And it's also uncommon, becauseI feel like, especially like
the world of biohacking, wherethere's something new you need
(21:48):
to be doing, there's somethingdifferent from what you're doing
now.
There's something better outthere, like the whole thing is
just a blaring, like you are notenough, you are not doing
enough and you're not doing itright, not helpful.
Some people love it and goahead and go for it.
I feel like I hear notenoughness in that all of the
(22:15):
time, and people that may not bevery happy and they are chasing
happiness, contentness,peacefulness by doing this.
Next newest thing Also beforethere's even a lot of evidence
on that.
Next newest thing Fastingbecame the big biohack.
Next newest thing Now thatpeople have been studying it
(22:38):
long enough, when you get to ayear, there's really no
difference in health benefitswith fasting, between fasting
and caloric restriction, andeverybody was convinced like
this is the way.
So I just don't even listen toa lot of those.
Well, here's the newest thing,because 30 years in the business
(23:00):
, everything comes around againand there's really nothing new
under the sun.
So any who?
So those are the five keys topromoting health, sustaining
behavior.
So again, you might havelistened, because you're
changing it and you have to likethe language when you download
the sheet is towards people whoare asking if they are more in
(23:21):
the corporate wellness realm,but you can absolutely modify to
ask these yourself.
I'm going to repeat them.
So spark intrinsic motivation toinspire and maintain change.
Reinforce behaviors overoutcomes.
Focus on what they can control.
Teach practical and scalableskills, emphasizing flexibility
and personalization what worksfor me.
(23:42):
Promote mindset shifts toprioritize sustainable behavior
change.
Build self esteem and selfefficacy by creating
opportunities for success.
So do look that over and thinkabout some of the things you're
doing, or maybe some plans youhave, and look, am I going about
(24:03):
this in a way that is going topromote long term change?
Because, again, you can doanything you want to promote
short term change.
I think it's more effective ifyou're focusing on long term
change, because we don't want tobe weight cycling, we don't
want to be dieting, we don'twant to do something Again.
That's why, like a 30 day,whatever is not it because we
(24:25):
want to do something that we canbe doing in five years, in 10
years.
So hopefully that's good readingfor you and also a great
opportunity to journal HeatherSayerslaymancom backslash
journal for my 3D journalingguide, to be able to walk your
way through these questions,because each of the keys on the
(24:49):
sheet has three differentquestions you can ask yourself.
I hope this is helpful as weall keep trying to march towards
our healthy habits and holdingthose for ourselves with
kindness and compassion.
Good luck to you.
Thanks so much for listeningtoday.
Do you know what would bereally fun if you popped over to
(25:10):
my Instagram at HeatherSayerslayman and dropped me a DM
and let me know what topics youwant me to cover?
Anything bugging you, somethingholding you up?
Please just let me know and Iwill tweak some content and get
an episode out just for you.
As always, please follow, show,or you can leave a five star
(25:30):
review on Apple or Spotify.
That would be fun too.
See you in the next episode.
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