Due to human activity global temperatures are rising at a level which isn’t sustainable for the environment to be able to survive.
Saving our planet is going to take a change in our behaviours but the scale of what we need to change can feel overwhelming.
Some behaviours are simple to implement and cost little or no money, whilst others are big, take time to implement and can’t be done overnight.
So where can you begin?
Change, big or small, is more likely to be successful if you follow a process. Let us share our Whale Approach to changing behaviours and consider whether it could help you change your environmental behaviours at home in the long-term.
Step 1: Clarify
Think about why it is important for you to change your environmental behaviours. Think and imagine what’s the worst that could happen if things remained how they are now? What will you lose if a year from now, two years, five years, ten years from now if things get worse? How painful would that be and how would that make you feel?
Understanding the why builds clarity and the purpose gives meaning to your actions.
Step 2: Wish
Use your imagination to think about what’s on your environmental wish list? You could start by thinking about what you:
Want to do
Want to have (or have less of)
Want to do more of (or start doing)
Would do if you thought no-one would laugh at you and you had all the time and money in the world
For each wish also note down when you would like to achieve them by, e.g. one year, five years, ten years.
Then pick your top wish.
Step 3 Focus
What environmental behaviours will help you achieve your wish? What are the things that you want to do, need to do and what are your desired behaviours?
Write a specific positive statement with phrases like ‘I will’, ‘I have’, or ‘I am’, use a ‘doing’ word and include a timescale and measurable criteria. The best way to think about wording these behaviours is to think ‘if someone else was watching me what would they say I was doing’?
For example, for the wish ‘reduce my use of single use plastic’.
I will stop using plastic straws
I will use a reusable produce bag
I will buy boxes instead of bottles
I will use a reusable bottle and mug
Don’t choose them at this point. Just write down all the potential desirable things you could do to help you achieve your wish.
Step 4 Impact
Now prioritise which one behaviour to focus on going forward; the one that will give you biggest impact in your life, help you achieve your wish and make change happen.
Don’t be tempted to work on all of them or most of them at once, that won’t work and will only frustrate you into inaction. Once you have successfully changed one behaviour you can build on that success.
Go for quality, not quantity. Use your time and energy to achieve important wishes and change important behaviours.
Remember to always keep the why at the fore front of your mind.
Step 5 Commit
When we own a change, it builds our commitment to it and we feel accountable for making it happen.
Write out a commitment statement like the one below.
This is a public statement of what you are going to do to make change happen. Print it out and place somewhere that you can easily see it and to be reminded of what you are aiming towards.
Share it with your friends and family, or even on your social media. Invite others to join you either to help you make the change or to take their own making change happen journey.
Now get specific and get your plan started by asking yourself the following questions:
Who can help you commit to the behaviour?
What do you need to do differently to achieve the desired behaviour?
Where do you need to do it?
When do you need to do it?
How often do you need to do it?
How can you monitor progress? Will you record every time you do it?
With whom do you need to do it? Are there other people that you need alongside you to make that happen?
Step 6 Understand
For you to change any behaviour you need 3 elements to be in place:
Capability: This can be either a physical skill and/or knowledge of how to perform the behaviour.
Opportunity: This describes whether there is a chance for the behaviour to occur. This can be either physical opportunity, which is usually time or resources and social opportunity which is determined by culture and social norms – that is the people around you.
Motivation: This too can be divided between your head, such as your decision making to perform the behaviour, and your heart, which includes your needs, desires and impulses to perform the behaviour.
Think of this as being a 3-legged stool and if any leg of the stool is weak then that is where you focus your actions. It helps you to tailor your actions appropriately to the behaviour you want to change.
Making change happen involves changing one or more of these elements.
There may be one leg of the stool that needs strengthening or it may be them all. Be honest and keep an open mind.
Step 7 Action
Now take action that is appropriate and effective for your situation. Could you….
Get more information about how to perform the behaviour?
Add prompts or cues to your environment to remind you to perform the behaviour?
Remind yourself of why you want to change this behaviour and the consequences of not making the change happen?
Find a credible person to help you?
Monitor your behaviour to make sure you keep on track and review your progress?
Consider the obstacles you might face and put if-then plan in place?
Ask others to support you?
Reframe your thinking from ‘I should’ to ‘I want to’?
Consider how and when you could appropriately reward yourself?
Make a date every week or month to review where you are with your chosen sustainable behaviour change.
Go back over your why, your wishes, your behaviours, what needs to change and your actions. Is this still working for you? Has the weak leg of your stool changed? Do you need to change the actions in your plan?
Following a process like our Whale Approach makes it much more likely that you will change your behaviour. Let us know how you get on.
We donate £1 for every sale of our online Making Change Happen programme to Whale and Dolphin Conservation.
Best wishes
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Behaviour Works aim is simple. To help make change happen in your personal, family or working life. Every week we help people across the world with their own change journey with our ‘Making Change Happen’ online training. Check us out at Behaviour Works.
Bin Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash
Plastic Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash
