Getting People to Change Bad Habits

I've spent much of my adult life trying to talk to folks about health, and the way it changes how they act. It motivates them to change their lives based on what they've just learned. And the reality's people don't change what they do based on what they know. They change what they do based on what they feel.

We don't do what we're supposed to do. Even if we're rational, I turned 50. And I bragged at my birthday party that I would get a colonoscopy because at 50 you're supposed to get one. And I went off and got it, I didn't take it seriously, I had lentils and beef the night before the procedure which unfortunately clouded the vision for my gastroenterologist who dutifully tried to find a path through all those remnants in my colon.

He found a pre-cancerous [xx] and I had no [xx], it shocked me. I talked about it publicly in part because I made peace with the reality that I had an ailment that is in part genetic. And I ought to be clear about the fact that if I can get a colon pop so can you. So, we ought to get our screening done.

But, I didn't really deal with the deeper issue which is that I was a miserable patient. I stalled my second study. I didn't get my blood tests on time, and I finally about nine months later came the realization that the reason I should do this is is not for myself, but it's for the people that I love.

For the people I care for, that emotional connection that I know changes us not the intellectual insight that I wasn't really at risk, and how could I be and I do all the right things. But the emotional connection to why it mattered, and so I went off and got a technical endoscopy to make sure I was okay, like I was supposed to.

This time I was more attentive to my prep. We fundamentally have an irrational, emotional driver in us. And if you get real about what drives change, and the things you ought to focus on, it's not that difficult. It's doable. But, you have to do it one fundamental disconnect which I had and I think most of the folks are listening to me right now probably have.

Which is we don't want our daily routine mocked up. I wasn't getting my test on because I didn't want to deal with the repercussions of it later that day, because I have a busy counter, I'm doing lots of things, I've got to on and so stupidly, I can't use any other adjective but that, stupidly you delay things that had much, much larger implications.

I think that is the fundamental reason why people who are normally rational, do irrational things. And so as a position, when I'm talking to a patient, and I'm emphasizing that you're cholestrol LD level is is over 110 which I know is a breakthrough heart disease, and we want to change that.

It's not a way of going at it. [xx] say look at the woman next to you. You think she loves you, because she seems she brought you here. What would her life be like if you weren't there? Something as simple as managing your blood pressure, or your cholesterol level, or your blood sugar number will dramatically change the number of years of viable life you will have with her.

An existence that you you will not give up because you are not wanting to take some of those things seriously. Now, I didn't want to talk about their cholesterol level. But the conversation takes a very different temper as it has a very deep resonating element to it if you can connect emotionally.

The reason that I always try to get people to support each other in this battle towards wellness is because ultimately that's how we've always survived these species. So, we have the the ability to weather the storm, and to do so much more if we're able to support each other, but in addition it gets us emotionally into the end.

So, if you're trying to lose weight taking your statements and train in with a partner so you cannot walk without him coming or her coming is a nice way of getting most people to walk everyday.