015 Link Up & Level Up: Quick Start Behavior Change with Tethering Influence Every Day

Link Up & Level Up: Quick Start Behavior Change with Tethering
There's something you want to change. There's an area in your life you want to grow in. 

For anything that you desire to change - a habit, an action, a behavior, or even a way of thinking or an emotional response to certain triggers - this one simple step can be incredibly high-yield.

But What About Intentions? What About Motivation?
Intentions are not plans. It's really common for us to hear an energizing and motivating talk and think, "OK, this is it. I'm going to change this thing." But what happens? It fizzles out or fades away. (and some of us... Eh hem, cough, cough... me) start to beat ourselves up about it.


We set this intention and while we're motivated, it seems reasonable.
While we're motivated, it seems doable.
While we're motivated, it seems like we're committed and we're going to actually stick this thing out.

But motivation waxes and wanes.

Intentions are vital. Motivation is vital.

In that moment of intention, in that moment of motivation, when you're actually experiencing a visceral “I'm going to do this,” … THAT is the time to set a plan. THAT is the time to set the next best action.

The Next Best Action
Think about something to tether your new desired behavior to.

A tugboat is tethered to a massive ship to then tug it through more dangerous or crowded waters. Right? It's tying something so that they move together, a tether.

It could be another habit.

It could be a repeated behavior.

It could be a recurring experience.

Why Tether?

When you tether two usually disparate things together:
It becomes easier to remember, especially if it's something you encounter or do again and again and again. 
It reduces cognitive load. (Our brains seek out the least cognitive effort, the least amount of energy to process something.) If we have to manage our intentions, manage our motivation and manage our actions plus all the other things that come with a behavior, we're not going to do it. We're going to fall short. So instead, reduce the cognitive load, reduce all the other things that have to be done before you implement such a behavior.
It doesn't rely on motivation as much. (It kinda does early, but eventually, it's closer to automatic)
It creates an element of consistency earlier in the process. If we are consistent early, we're less likely to have that negative self-talk and less likely to demotivate ourselves.

What To Link Up
Some examples:

If you want to start to be a little more mindful... well what do you already do daily that takes a short amount of time, but is also uninterrupted?


Making your bed
Brushing your teeth
Drinking your coffee
Washing your hands

Fine. Choose one and practice being mindful while doing that thing.

You want to start a gratitude practice? You want to start consistently working out? You want to call your mother more frequently? 

Experiment
I've tried multiple methods and multiple times to develop a gratitude practice. 

I tried what the gurus said. I read and implemented some of the things I read on trusted social posts. I looked up the research and tried some of the validated methods. But gratitude wasn't as present throughout my day as I wanted it to be. I had to keep experimenting.

I'll tell you what it was for me. Ultimately, it was two things:


Tether it to something I do early, every day
Make it easy

I tried journaling and it wasn't working for me. It took a lot of activation energy. I had to find the journal, I had to pull it out. I had a turn to the page and then I felt like this is going to last, so I have to write all this stuff. In my head, I was self-editing. It was too much energy for me.

Well, I have a treadmill desk that I use while I work each morning. Tether. When I start walking, I type five things that I'm grateful for. Easy. 

I type five things I'm grateful for and pause on each one for 10 seconds. A total of 50 seconds. Now gratitude has become a habit, eve