Design the (physical) environment to help/nudge you
Remove stimuli that provoke sedentary behaviour and replace them with stimuli that provoke physical activity, to make physical activity EAST (easy, attractive, social, timely).
Example: Put your bicycle in front of the car when you plan to cycle to work the next morning
Link physical activity to relevant social identities (and norms) and give a social meaning to physical activity.
Example: Postman of the elderly home
Increase your self-efficacy by making the behaviour initially very easy.
Create a tiny habit (anchor with other habits, (tiny) behaviour) and celebrate. Let the behaviour grow towards the norms that we want.
Example: If you want to floss your teeth, start by flossing 1 tooth
The more concrete, the better: Formulate intentions/goals as specific as possible
4 W’s (what, when, where, with whom?)
Example: “I will become more physically active” vs. “I will walk to the bakery during lunchtime on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12.30 p.m. with my dog”
Anticipate barriers and find solutions/alternatives in advance ! Make your clients think in advance about the barriers that can occur (advocate ofthe-devil), and about individually-tailored solutions (mental back-up plans).
Example: "What if it rains? I really hate becoming wet!” vs “I make sure that there is always an umbrella available in my office.”
There is always time: It’s a question of priorities.
Combining activities can save a lot of time (= reduce cross-behavioural conflict)
Example: Home training during the news, parking 10 minutes further from your work and avoiding traffic jams
Provide (enough) autonomy by giving (some) options, choice, rationale
Support the need for competence by positive (verbal) reinforcement. Point out what has been going well.
Be systematic in how you target the behaviour. Use the behaviour change wheel to consider all possible options.
Experiment and make use of feedback. Learn from others/yourself, WOWW (work on what works for you)