When people are motivated to change behavior but frustrated by a pervasive lack of success in doing so, I go to work.
First the bad news: I believe that there is no shortcut with behavior change. No matter how popular the trend or strong the motivation, achieving your objective does not happen for real unless you perform a chain of consecutive behaviors in a specific way. You need to know both how to change a specific behavior and how to line them up in a consecutive chain.
Research
Why does behavior change not happen when we strongly desire a different outcome? Why does behavior change not happen under constant pressure from advertising and marketing, apps and technology tools, even medical recommendation?
Behavior happens in the context of our past and present environment. Some behaviors, performed automatically and with frequency become habits. When the environment changes, it is highly likely that a new set of behaviors are required to achieve the same aspirations, or that the same behavior in a changed environment leads to different outcomes. To perform this realignment, we have to reexamine and redesign behaviors we have already relegated to autopilot (a.k.a. habits) so we can function more effectively.
Our aspirations and objectives may be measurable by a single indicator, (x pounds weight loss, Y $ saved) but they can only be achieved through a complex chain of consecutive decision making, with the possibility of every decision/behavior link in the chain failing and sabotaging the outcome. The more complex the chain, the more significant the environmental change, the harder it is to align our behaviors.
I research:
Minimally-required components of changing behavior to achieve desired outcome
How specific behaviors are embedded in a complex decision-making chain, how their impact accumulates in sabotaging or achieving desired outcomes
Perceived and de facto barriers to any attempt to change a particular behavior
Actionable and measurable behavior elements which are actually changeable in one attempt
How to build behavior elements into a successful decision making chain
Patterns of individual behavior change in organizational behavior context
What is the impact of executives on organizations’ and individuals’ ability to change behavior, how organizations facilitate or stifle behavior change of individuals