4 drivers to make change stick — Neuroscience with Dr. Tara
YOU-app’s purpose is to help people live happier and healthier. Often that involves changing behavior, and to do that we are going to the very essence — the human brain and why it does what it does. To this end we were happy and proud to invite Dr. Tara Swart to join our Advisory Board. Tara is a PhD in neuroscience, an Oxford University trained medical doctor, a leadership coach and excellent at turning complex neuroscience into simple, clear messages. In short — our dream woman.
We sat down with Tara to discuss the basics of neuroplasticity, learning, motivation and building this knowledge into YOU-app. Here’s lesson nr. 1:
4 drivers make change stick
Sustainable change is driven by four main factors:
1. Raising awareness
2. Focused attention
3. Deliberate and repetitive practice
4. Accountability
At this early stage we think YOU-app is doing quite well on 1 and 4 and getting there on 2 and 3.
Raising awareness: Becoming aware of the good, the bad and what you should change is an important start. This is why health campaigns often scare you with disease and death — to make you self-aware and want to change.
We take a more positive approach. We get user stories like “I find myself being more aware of what I do” and “[YOU-app] makes me do things I wouldn’t normally do or take notice of things I take for granted”. Feedback is telling us we’re helping thousands in their self-awareness process. Good start!
Focused attention & deliberate and repetitive practice: Focus on what you want to change and a few habits to support, and repeat over time deliberately. This is where the “rules of thumb” for habit creation of 21, 28, 40, 66 days come from (the “right” answer, according to Tara is: “It completely depends on the habit. If you want to do something simple like drink enough water then 2–3 weeks is probably enough to get into the habit, but for learning to cook probably not”).
YOU-app is currently one action per day, a new action every day. Very focused in terms of amount, but hardly goal focused or repetitive for a specific habit. We will be addressing this soon.
Interesting here is the word “deliberate”. We keep getting questions on “why can’t I just tick a box to say I did it? I don’t want to post photos”. And we get it, we really do. But actually “…having you take a photo actually makes the process much more deliberate” says Tara. The picture is not just a “social shareable”, it is our way of making people REALLY think about what they are doing and how they are doing it, so it will stick better.
Accountability: Feeling accountable for what you do is key to stick to it. For some people the app creates accountability — to friends in the app, the community, the app itself (“Have I completed today’s action?”), or even to Jamie (being famous and loved has its advantages). Tara herself was among the first in her field to advocate for technology having the power to be the source of accountability for people instead of traditional coaches or supportive friends.
All in all — we’re not there yet to be THE tool to help your brain change, but we’re off to a good start. Learning the habit of making micro changes will get your brain into the habit of learning new things and make it that little bit easier to change some of your other habits.
This was a first glimpse into the world of neuroplasticity, change and learning. We will be posting regularly on these topics with Dr. Tara, so feel free to send us your thoughts at you@you-app.com!
Interested in change?
Us too. We’re working for a world where it’s possible to achieve sustainable, positive change in your life — in small steps.
Download YOU-app or order the Book of YOU for small actions on mindfulness, eating, movement and love.
