I'm currently in York, about to attend and present at the Modeshift Convention at York Racecourse. In conversations with my friends and colleagues at The Bikeability Trust over dinner and drinks last night, it started to feel as though I have inadvertently given myself a reputation as a processed sugar addict! I clearly grapple with this habit, and clearly feel the need to 'share' in meetings - a little too often, perhaps!
Nonetheless, I use such conversations/reputational threats as an opportunity to create 'motivational leverage': the Self-Determination Theory of human motivation identifies several motivational levers (my term; see Motivation: The Manual), one of which is external regulation - other people's control over our behaviour. Another is introjected regulation - the sense of guilt or obligation to ourselves or others, to make some kind of behaviour change.
So, it has been useful to receive this feedback from my friends, because they have prompted me to reflect on my consumption of processed sugar, which has been quite high in the evenings of late, for example, an ice cream for dessert practically every day; I'm also the one who buys the ice cream in the supermarket.
When I return from the conference, I will use a Helpful Habit interval training Steppingstone from the Maintaining Momentum page of the website to help me rein in my sugar intake a little.
Watch this space...
Kommentare