Shake Things Up a Little.    
Shake Things Up a Little.

One way to change a habit is to do the behavior in a different way.  
This may help you to:
C	Be more aware of the thoughts, feelings, cues, and 
	actions related to the problem. 
C	Feel some control over the behavior.
C	Discover new options for change.  

Here’s how to “shake things up a little.”  

Describe a behavior that gets in the way of your DPP goals:
(Example:	After tough days at work, I stop at the bakery.  I buy a bag of cookies and eat them on the way home.)

Next week, how could you do the behavior in a different way? 
9	Change the place (e.g., order cookies at a sit-down coffee shop).
9	Change the time of day (e.g., eat cookies before noon).                       
9	Change the extent of the behavior (e.g., buy one cookie).
9	Change it from being done at the spur of the moment to being done at planned times (e.g., go to the bakery on a certain day of the week).   
9	Change it from being done in a predictable way to being done in a random way (e.g., flip a coin to decide whether or not to stop at the bakery).
9	Change who you do the behavior with (e.g., go to the bakery with a friend).
9	Do something different beforehand (e.g., walk around the block before you go to the bakery).
9	Other:                                                                                    .

Write an action plan.  Then follow the plan exactly, no matter how odd it feels.  Remember, the point is to shake things up.  So just try it.

                                                                                                    

What did you learn?