Dealing with the elephant in the room

I'm reading a book.

You're shocked, I know.

I mean, I never get any healthy lifestyle ideas from a book. *scoff* Ok, so I get pretty much ALL my tips from books, but this book just about rocked me out of this world. It's called The Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard by Dan and Chip Heath. I cannot express to you how awesome this book is. Basically, if you're trying to convince someone (even yourself!) to do something, this book tells you how to do it. It teaches you how to motivate others (or, again, yourself) to do something and do it successfully. When it comes to being healthy, that's information we could all use right? I mean, it's easy to say, "I want to eat better", but hard to actually get yourself to stop eating ice cream. And if you do manage to stop eat ice cream, it's harder to keep up that change past the first few times you really crave some Moose Tracks.

We've all experienced failure- the exercise program that didn't last past the first 2 workouts or the healthy diet that lasted 3 weeks tops. Often failure is preceded by lack of motivation- we wanted something, but we couldn't motivate ourselves enough to make a change last. Well, maybe it's not a matter of how much you motivate yourself, but HOW you motivate yourself. Hold onto that thought, I'm about to blow your mind with some common sense.

In our mind, there are two very important characters- the elephant and his rider. The Switch says that the rider is sitting up high on the elephant and can see the path they are going down. He can see the end result and pushes the elephant to get there. The elephant trusts the rider enough to go along with his plan for a little while. But remember, the elephant is strong. If the elephant isn't motivated or doesn't want to continue down the rider's designated path, he can easily throw the rider off and run his own way. That's why some diets and workout programs last for just a few weeks. Think of the rider as your mind and the elephant as your emotions. Your mind sees the end result- a healthier you. It convinces your emotions that the end result is worth it. And so you all begin down the path to healthiness. But then the first craving for ice cream comes. Your mind (the rider) can keep your body (the elephant) in check for a little bit. But with each passing craving being worse than the next, the elephant gets harder to control. Finally, the craving gets so bad that it's no longer worth it to the elephant. His emotions take control, he turns around, and rushes to the nearest ice cream field. The rider is helpless at this point- there's nothing he can do about it.

Are you feeling helpless yet? Feeling like no matter what you do, you can never control your elephant enough to make a permanent healthy change? Don't give up. There is a giant key to controlling the elephant- you have to use his emotions to your benefit. You can't use logic to control the elephant. Remember, logic only works on him for the first little while until his natural impulses take over. Logic motivates the rider. Emotions motivate the elephant. And unless the rider AND the elephant are motivated, you're not getting anywhere.

Here's what a typical conversation would look like between the rider and the elephant:
Rider- "We want to be in shape. To do this we'll need to start exercising."
Elephant- "Why should we exercise?" 
Rider- "It will decrease our chances of getting heart disease and type II diabetes. Also, we'll look fantastic!"
Elephant- "Ok, sounds good to me."
The day after the first workout...
Rider- "Come on elephant, get up. It's time to hit the gym again."
Elephant- "Are you kidding?! My whole body hurts. I feel worse now than when I wasn't exercising. It's just not worth the pain."
End of exercise regimen

What was the problem with the above situation? Well, the rider was motivated because he saw the logic and benefits to exercising. He also saw the end results of a successful exercise program. But after a hard workout, the elephant didn't care about what logically made sense. He was tired, grumpy, and wanted to do what was easiest for him. He needed to have emotional motivation. Our emotions are so strong that they can convince us to do things that are hard. They keep that emotional elephant motivated and on course.

Think about The Biggest Loser tv show. A couple weeks into the program, the competitors are exhausted, tired, and feeling very down on themselves. They see that they are losing weight, but even that's not very motivating anymore. They would do anything to have their trainers give them a break. So what do the trainers do? Give them letters from home. After not seeing or hearing from their family in weeks, a simple letter of encouragement brings these 300-lb men and women to their knees in tears. After reading these letters from home, all of sudden, they are ready to get back to work. What made the difference? Emotions.

Here's another example. I'm sure you guys have seen this picture before:
Trainers of weight loss programs will have their clients see, feel, and hold what a pound of fat looks like. Why? Because their clients look at it and think, "Wow!! If I lose one pound, I lose all of that?! That's incredible!" Any kind of "wow" reaction is an emotional response. In this case, the clients are wow-ed because losing a single pound never seemed like a big deal before. But "Wow", look at all that fat I lost! That creates emotion and excitement. It keeps them motivated.

Here's a very personal example of an emotional response I had to health. I was working in the hospital as a nursing student. One of my patients was a woman who clearly had not taken care of herself. She was very overweight and unhealthy. While I was working in her room, she had a heart attack. Right in front of my eyes. The rescue response team frantically started CPR and started shooting doses of medication into her IV. I will never ever forget the sight of her limp body being rocked up and down by the CPR. Nor the look on her daughter's face when she came into the room and screamed, "What is happening to my mom?!" This woman did recover from the heart attack. But the CPR had cracked a couple of her ribs, which had punctured her lungs. As a result, she had to undergo minor surgery to get some chest tubes put in. As I was watching all of this happen, I was terrified and horrified. I thought over and over, "I will never let this happen to myself, I will never let this happen to my family, I will never let this happen to people that I care about." I had a huge emotional response to this event. And the result is that I am still a huge advocate for healthy lifestyle behaviors. I am still trying to protect other people from suffering the same fate as that woman.

So what about you? Not all of can witness a heart attack (although I wish everyone could. It really would change their lives and perspectives. I mean no disrespect to those who know someone that's suffered from a heart attack). How are you going to motivate your elephant? Find something that triggers your emotions. Are you trying to get in shape so that you'll be able to play with your kids? Family bonds create very powerful emotions, so they are good to use for motivation. You could also find your own "wow" factor. I've heard of people putting pebbles in a jar, where each pebble represents a pound the person wants to lose. As they start losing pounds, they take pebbles out of the jar. As they see the jar becoming more and more empty, they think, "Wow, this is really happening!" Are you trying to be healthy to prevent or treat a medical condition? Watch a video about how people live with disease that could've been prevented by making healthy changes. Or write a list of things you won't get to see or do if you die 10 years earlier than you plan. I know it's a terrible, sad thought. But because it's so emotional, it will help you to change.

Basically, figure out why you want to change. Then find something that triggers your emotions and use it to keep you motivated. You will probably have to use it more than one time or continue to find new emotional triggers to keep you going. But emotion is the key to keeping that elephant happy and plodding down the road you choose.