Motivation: negative negative reinforcement

It's been a couple of tough training days.    I've felt a bit off.  This is partly due to some lingering stomach queasiness and having too much to do and not enough time to do it.   I was up until midnight last night putting the finishing (and starting) touches on the sermon I gave today.  Then I woke up at 6 AM to run 10 of the most difficult miles of my training thus far.  My legs just felt super tired and stiff the whole time.   Then I preached at our Greenwood congregation and am now praying that the kids fall asleep so I can get a quick nap in before I jump into our gigantic to do list, all of which needs to be completed before we head to KC on Wednesday for my brother's wedding.

In busy times it's so easy to skip a run or two.  And usually for me, one or two equals three, four, five, etc.  It's important to find some way to stay motivated.

Finding the motivation to change can be difficult and we medical professionals spend a ton of time trying to convince people to change negative health habits.   I was listening to a great story a couple of months ago on NPR on a new way to think about helping us keep true to the changes we are trying to make.  (If I were a good blogger, I would link to the archived story, but I wasn't able to find it - just don't tell google!)    So as I am needing an extra surge of motivation, I thought I'd share it with you.

Negative Negative reinforcement - and no that doesn't make it positive reinforcement!

Unfortunately, this is my life right now!

The premise is this

1. Figure out what habit you really want to break - start running, stop smoking, decrease caloric intake, stop swearing, etc.  

2. Come up with your goal - quit smoking entirely, run five days a week, quit eating desert, only say 2 swear words a day, etc.

3. Determine a motivating amount of money to put in a jar each time you slip up - this needs to be enough to be painful, but not too much that you go bankrupt

4. Choose a charity that you are fundamentally opposed to their mission (I'm tempted to give examples of charities but will withhold to hopefully avoid a bunch of negative comments in the comment section)

5. Each month donate the money in the jar to the charity that you depise


That's it!




If you stick to this formula, you will change your habits in no time.  I guarantee it.

For anyone that wants to comment and share about one of the habits they're trying to change and how it's going, feel free to do so.