Last updated on December 12th, 2019 at 09:55 pm

**These articles have been put together by Academy Member Stephen Berkemeier. 

Use THIS LINK to read his 5 articles on Behavior Change.  Stephen suggests the following order: 1. Guide to Behavior Change 2. Guide to Reinforcement and punishment 3. Any of the strategy articles. 

You can also reach Stephen at his LinkedIn**

Disclaimer

These strategies are not meant to be a form of treatment for any type of disorder, but are rather meant to be tools available for your consideration while on your journey to becoming superhuman! If you or a loved one suffers from physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral issues do not attempt to utilize these strategies as a remedy. Instead, reach out to a licensed professional if you wish to seek help.  

The Process of Changing Behavior

Alright! So I’ve heard a lot around the academy about different people wanting to make changes to their behavior, but not knowing how. There are many different strategies out there, and most of them seem to conflict with each other. My goal in writing these articles was to try and cut through some of the BS out there and provide all you super humans with some insight on behavior change, straight from the world of cognitive-behavioral psychology (CBP).

This article contains a step by step process to defining your goals and building your strategies for behavior change. I’ve included a worksheet that you should print off and fill out while you’re going through the steps, and other articles (as well as a version that I’ve filled out as an example). It will help you keep your thoughts clear and consistent as you figure out your battle plan for moving forward! If you don’t have a printer, don’t worry, any piece of paper will do. Just make sure to write things down whenever the article mentions to (it’ll make this process easier, trust me!)

To start things off, I’m going to lay out the 8 steps for changing behavior, then I’ll go a little bit deeper into each one.

1. Clarify your issue/problem
2. Brainstorm and select your initial goals
3. Figure out your “target behavior”
4. Use your initial goal to create SMART Goals
5. Identify the maintaining conditions of your target behavior
6. Make your battle plan to change the maintaining conditions
7. Execute your battle plan
8. Evaluate your success and follow up!

Okay, whew, that’s a whole lot of information packed into just 8 steps. If you’re like me when I first started studying this stuff, you probably don’t quite understand everything yet, but don’t worry! That’s to be expected, even Bruce Banner didn’t get his 7 PhD’s in one night! Now we’ll break down each of these steps and try to understand them a bit better.

Step One: Clarify your issue/problem.

We’re all here to unleash our inner superhuman selves, and chances are that you’ll run across at least one obstacle along the way. Don’t worry! There would be nothing “super” about it if it all came easily! Every superhero has their nemesis. In the world of CBP, we call this nemesis the “Presenting Problem” or the reason why you want to make a change in the first place.

For me, my nutrition has always been my biggest kryptonite. I love food and it’s difficult for me to stop eating when I’m full. I can’t even count how many times I’ve eaten so much that I’ve been physically uncomfortable afterwards! This made it hard for me to shed weight. I’d spend hours in the gym working out and getting stronger, but I would get disheartened every time I would look in the mirror. My presenting problem in this case was “I’m fatter than I want to be”. That’s it…nothing fancy. It was blunt, to the point, and most importantly the driving reason behind why I wanted to make a change. Now in fairness, this is not (nor should it be) everyone’s presenting problem. The true secret to being superhuman is really just being happy with who you are, but since you’re reading an article on behavior change chances are that there’s SOMETHING that you want to change. So take some time, think over what your presenting problem might be. What is it that’s keeping you from being superhuman? Once you’ve figured it out, write it down! You now have a face and name for your nemesis!

Step Two: Brainstorm and select your initial goal

Now that you know your nemesis, it’s time to envision a world where they have been conquered! How will that world look? How will you know they’ve been vanquished for good?

For me, I knew that I wanted to burn fat and continue building muscle, but I needed to know how that would look. I weighed myself and figured out that I weighed 224 lbs. After reading more about body fat percentages, I decided that my ultimate goal would be to one day weigh in at 180lbs. I felt that if I could step on that scale and see 180 pop up instead of 224, then I would know that I had succeeded in conquering my nemesis!

Step Three: Figuring out your “Target Behavior”

I had my goal in mind, but needed to find out how to achieve it. I needed to find my target behavior. But what is a target behavior? Well the official definition is “A narrow, discrete aspect of the problem that can be clearly defined and easily measured”. In other words, it’s the behavior you’re trying to change; it’s what gives your nemesis their power. My nemesis was “I’m fatter than I want to be” and the source of its power/my target behavior was “I eat more than I should”.

Target behaviors can be broken down into two basic categories “Acceleration” and “Deceleration”. Acceleration behaviors are behaviors that you want to start doing more frequently (e.g., exercising) while Deceleration behaviors are behaviors that you want to do less of (e.g., eating junk food). As a general rule of thumb, deceleration behaviors are a little bit harder, but don’t let that scare you away from them, they’re by no means invincible!

I decided on a Deceleration behavior (“Eating too much”) because it was the best strategy for me at the time. I was already exercising regularly and couldn’t increase my time spent in the gym because my schedule wouldn’t allow it. The behavior I could have the most control over modifying was my diet, so I decided to tackle it head on! However, everyone’s target behavior is going to be different, so take your time when thinking of which one you want to face and what kind of impact it can have on you! Remember, a good target behavior is one that you can beat!

But what exactly makes a target behavior a “good target behavior”? Well to put it bluntly, you know your target behavior is a good one if it’s narrow, clearly defined, measurable, and appropriate/adaptive.

When I say “narrow” I mean that it tackles only a specific part of your presenting problem. If you’re trying to tackle your nemesis from too many angles, you’re going to spread yourself thin and fail every time! It’s far better, in this case, to concentrate your strengths and attack them from one angle. For me there were a whole host of strategies I could have tried tackling to lose weight (e.g., exercise more, switch up  my training styles, target the types of food I ate, etc.) but I decided to focus on my diet. In this way, I would keep my approach narrow and manageable!

Once I had made sure my target behavior was good and specific, I made sure to give it a clear definition.  I decided “eating too much” would be defined as eating more than my targeted macros. This also made it easy for me to meet the third category of “measurable” because all I had to do was use a macro counter (my favorite is My Macros+, well worth the $2.99 I paid for it).

Finally, when I talk about being appropriate and adaptive, I mean that it is directly relatable to my presenting problem (appropriate) and possible for me to undertake (adaptive).  As long as your target behavior fits these four categories, you should be in the clear! Once you have it, write it down with your presenting problem and goal.

Step Four: Use your Initial Goal to create SMART Goals

So now I knew what my nemesis was, where it got its power, and most importantly, how my world would look without it! My initial goal was to lose 44 lbs, however I knew this goal wouldn’t be enough to keep me going. It would take a long time, and I would probably get disheartened down the road if I felt like I wasn’t achieving anything fast enough. I decided that I needed to break down my overall goal into a series of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound). This way I could feel good about crushing my smaller goals on the way to taking on the big one! It would keep me feeling more motivated and make me more confident in reaching my goal weight.

I decided on having the goals of working  out for an hour every day for five days a week, and also staying at or under my macros every day. I was already getting in the exercise, so that goal was just there to help make sure I continued to do so. The goal about my macros was to help me make a change in my nutrition to help boost the impact of my exercise. These goals were specific, measurable (I either meet my macros and workout the five days or I don’t), attainable for my schedule, relevant (because it was something that I wanted for myself, not something someone else was putting on me), and time-bound (because I would have to remain in my macros each day and fit in five days of working out by the end of the week if I wanted to meet my goal) For more on SMART goals, check out this awesome article from the American Council on Exercise!.  

Take some time to consider your overarching goal and design some SMART goals for yourself that can help you obtain it! Feel free to dream big, but make sure that your initial goal is physically possible (e.g., don’t expect to drop 30 lbs in a week). Once you have your SMART goals, write them down along with your presenting problem.

Step Five: Identify the maintaining conditions of your target behavior

Now that you have your target behavior, it’s time to figure out what your “maintaining conditions” are. “Maintaining conditions” is just a fancy way of saying the things that allow/encourage your target behavior. These are the things that allow your target behavior to power up your nemesis. Typically these conditions are what come directly before or after your target behavior. For example, if my nemesis was “I’m fatter than I want to be” and my target behavior was “I eat more than I should”, then my maintaining condition was “frequently going out to eat with my friends” (more on this later).  An easy exercise to find out what your maintaining conditions are is to answer the following questions

“When/where do you find yourself doing your target behavior the most? The least?”

“What are you thinking and how are you feeling right before your target behavior?”

“What happens right after you perform the target behavior?”

“What are the long term effects of continuing with my target behavior?”

Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers yet, often times people aren’t super aware of their target behaviors until they want to make a change. If this is the case, try keeping a journal of some sort and write down your thoughts on these questions every time you find yourself doing your target behavior. Once you’ve answered each of these questions, look through them and try to find a pattern.

What tends to happen right before you perform your target behavior? Is there something that causes it? What happens right after? What patterns do you see that seem to contribute to you continuing your target behavior?

For me I would usually agree to go out to a restaurant or dining hall with my friends right before I ate too much. And directly after eating too much, I would still be with my friends and having a good time. That time with my friends afterwards was especially potent for me, as it helped reinforce my target behavior by pairing it with something I enjoyed (see my article on reinforcement and punishment for more info on this). To be even more specific, my maintaining condition before eating too much was getting invited to go out and eat at a restaurant/dining hall. My maintaining condition afterwards was being rewarded for eating too much by having a good time with my friends.

Chances are you’ll probably have multiple maintaining conditions! Don’t worry, you don’t have to tackle all of them! Just pick your biggest one and focus on that! Look for the one that 1) Has the greatest control over your target behavior and 2) you stand the best chance at being able to modify. For me, it was changing the type of places my friends and I would go to hang out. (1)It had the most control over my target behavior (because it would directly impact whether or not I would eat too much while with them. (2) I also had the most control over it because I have awesome friends, who didn’t mind switching up their routines to help me face my nemesis.  

Once you have a good idea of what maintaining condition you want to fight, write it down and proceed to step six!

Step Six: Make your Battle Plan to Change the Maintaining Conditions

Okay, so here is the totally awesome part! It’s time for you to set your battle plan for fighting your nemesis! There are so many different strategies for this that I can’t really go into too much detail in this one article! I recommend that you instead take some time to read through the different strategy articles that I’ve written up and find one that fits you! Once you’ve found one and have it ready, move on to step seven.

Step Seven: Execute your battle plan

This is exactly what it sounds like, start applying your strategy to defeat your nemesis!

Step Eight: Evaluate Your Success and Follow up!

Periodically check in on your success, but remember that success doesn’t come overnight! Just make periodic check ins to see if you’re heading in the right direction and meeting your SMART goals.

Like in all battles, strategies may need tweaking. If you’re finding success, awesome! Keep up the great work! If you’re struggling, try revisiting the last couple of steps and come up with a new strategy to take on!

Superhero Jacked Guide to Behavior Change

Name:

Date:

1) Clarify your issue/problem:

• Who/what is your nemesis/presenting problem? Why do you want to change?

2) Brainstorm and select your goal

• What is your overarching goal? How will you know You’ve defeated your nemesis?

3) Figuring out your Target Behavior: What gives your nemesis their power?

• What is your Target Behavior?

• (circle your answer) Is this an acceleration behavior (you want to do it more often) or Deceleration behavior (you want to do it less often).

-Is this behavior:

Narrow: (only tackles ONE specific part of your presenting problem)]

Clearly defined: (what is your definition for your target behavior?)

Measurable: (how will you measure this behavior to see if you’re succeeding?)

Appropriate/Adaptive: (directly related to your presenting problem/ possible for   you to undertake)

4) Using your initial Goal to create SMART Goals

• Come up with one or two SMART goals that can help you achieve your initial goal:

• How are they…

• Specific:

• Measurable:

• Attainable (possible)

• Relevant (is this something YOU want, and not something someone else wants for you?)

• Timebound (does it have a regular deadline you can meet?)

5) Identify the maintaining conditions of your target behavior

• When/where do you find yourself doing your target behavior the most? The least?

• What are you thinking and how are you feeling right before your target behavior?

• What happens right after you perform the target behavior?

• What are the long term effects of continuing with my behavior?

-after answering the above questions, look for patterns. What things seem to allow/encourage your target behavior? Write them down below

-Of all the possible maintaining conditions you just wrote down, which one 1) has the greatest control over your target behavior and 2) do you stand the best chance at being able to modify? Write it down below, this is your target maintaining condition!

6)  Make your Battle Plan to Change the Maintaining Conditions

• What strategy are you going with? Why?

7) Execute your battle plan!

8) Evaluate Your Success and Follow up!

Periodically check in on your success, but remember that success doesn’t come overnight! Just make periodic check ins to see if you’re heading in the right direction and meeting your SMART goals.

Like in all battles, strategies my need tweaking. If you’re finding success, awesome! Keep up the great work! If you’re struggling, try revisiting the last couple of steps and come up with a new strategy to take on!

Superhero Jacked Guide to Behavior Change

(Example)

Name: Stephen B.

Date: 5/5/2018

1) Clarify your issue/problem:

• Who/what is your nemesis/presenting problem? Why do you want to change?

I’m fatter than I want to be

2) Brainstorm and select your goal

• What is your overarching goal? How will you know you’ve defeated your nemesis?

I weigh 224 lbs and want to lose 44 lbs to eventually weigh in at 180 lbs.

3) Figuring out your Target Behavior: What gives your nemesis their power?

• What is your Target Behavior?

I eat too much

• (circle your answer) Is this an acceleration behavior (you want to do it more often) or Deceleration behavior (you want to do it less often).

-Is this behavior:

Narrow: (only tackles ONE specific part of your presenting problem)

Yes, there are a lot of different ways I could tackle losing weight, but I want to focus on how I eat too much.

Clearly defined: (what is your definition for your target behavior?)

I’m defining “eating too much” as eating more than my macros in a single day.

Measurable: (how will you measure this behavior to see if you’re succeeding?)

I’m going to track my macros each day and will know if I’m succeeding if I stay at or under my macros at the end of each day.

Appropriate/Adaptive: (directly related to your presenting problem/ possible for   you to undertake)

Yes, this target behavior is appropriate because my eating too much is directly related to my current weight. It is adaptive because it’s physically possible for me to keep at or under my macros each day.

4) Using your initial Goal to create SMART Goals

• Come up with one or two SMART goals that can help you achieve your initial goal:

1. I’m going to work out for an hour each day, five days a week.
2. I’m going to stay at or under my macros each day (P: 162, C: 340, F: 77)

• How are they…

• Specific:

I’m being specific about how often I’m going to work out and for how long, and I’m being specific about my nutrition in that I need to stay under my macros.

• Measurable:

I can measure my workout goal by recording whether or not I make it into the gym for a full hour of exercise each day, five days a week. If I do, then I met my goal. If I don’t, then I haven’t met my goal. I can measure my macro goal each day by seeing if I kept below my macros. If I do, then I met my goal. If I don’t then I haven’t met my goal.

• Attainable (possible):

I’m already meeting my first goal, so I know it’s possible for me to do, and keeping within my macros is definitely something I feel confident about doing.

• Relevant (is this something YOU want, and not something someone else wants for you?)

Yes, this is something that I want, not something that I’m being pressured to do by someone else. I’ve been unhappy about my weight for a while and am ready to make a change.

• Timebound (does it have a regular deadline you can meet?)

Yes, my workout goal has a repeating deadline at the end of every week, my macro goal has a repeating deadline at the end of each day.

5) Identify the maintaining conditions of your target behavior

• When/where do you find yourself doing your target behavior the most? The least?

I find myself eating too much whenever I hang out with my friends at a restaurant or dining hall. I’ve noticed that I actually have good days (where I don’t eat too much) when I plan out my meals ahead of time.

• What are you thinking and how are you feeling right before your target behavior?

I’m usually feeling pretty good. I’m hanging out with my friends and we’re all having a good time.

• What happens right after you perform the target behavior?

I’m usually still hanging out with my friends and having a good time, despite being uncomfortably full.

• What are the long term effects of continuing with my behavior?

Not only will I continue to feel unhappy with my body, but I can develop significant health issues if I continue to eat like this.

-after answering the above questions, look for patterns. What things seem to allow/encourage your target behavior? Write them down below

-Going to places to eat with my friends is allowing me to eat more than I should.

-Hanging out with my friends and having a good time isn’t bad, but it’s also reinforcing my targeted behavior by pairing it with a positive experience.

-Of all the possible maintaining conditions you just wrote down, which one 1) has the greatest control over your target behavior and 2) do you stand the best chance at being able to modify? Write it down below, this is your target maintaining condition!

Going to places to eat with my friends

6)  Make your Battle Plan to Change the Maintaining Conditions

• What strategy are you going with? Why?

I’m going to go with a token economy. I like the idea of being able to work towards something and get rewarded. It fits my personality and has the best chance at helping me to meet my goal.

7) Execute your battle plan!

8) Evaluate Your Success and Follow up!

Periodically check in on your success, but remember that success doesn’t come overnight! Just make periodic check ins to see if you’re heading in the right direction and meeting your SMART goals.

Like in all battles, strategies my need tweaking. If you’re finding success, awesome! Keep up the great work! If you’re struggling, try revisiting the last couple of steps and come up with a new strategy to take on!

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