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Application of the Concept of Health & Wellness
to People with Disabilities:
From Academia to Real Life
Building Motivation and Commitment
Complete the following checklist to determine whether you are
motivated and committed to changing your behavior.
Check the statements that are true for you:
- I feel responsible for my own behavior and capable of managing
it.
- I am not easily discouraged.
- I enjoy setting goals and then working to achieve them.
- I am good at keeping promises to myself.
- I like having a structure and schedule for my activities.
- I view my new behavior as a necessity, not an optional activity.
- Compared with previous attempts to change my behavior, I am
more motivated now.
- My goals are realistic.
- I have a positive mental picture of the new behavior.
- Considering the stresses in my life, I feel confident that
I can stick to my program.
- I feel prepared for lapses and ups-and-downs in my behavior
change program.
- I feel that my plan for behavior change is enjoyable.
- I feel comfortable telling other people about the change I
am making in my behavior.
Did you check most of these statements? If not, you need to boost
your motivation and commitment. Consider these strategies:
- Review the potential benefits of changing your behavior and
the costs of not changing it (see Activity 2).
- Pay special attention to the short-term benefits of changing
your behavior, including feelings of accomplishment and self-confidence.
Post a list of these benefits in a prominent location.
- Visualize yourself achieving your goal and enjoying its benefits.
For example, if you want to manage time more effectively, picture
yourself as a confident, organized person who systematically tackles
important tasks and sets aside time each day for relaxation, exercise,
and friends. Practice this type of visualization regularly.
- Put aside obstacles and objections to change. Counter thoughts
such as "I’ll never have time to exercise" with thoughts like
"Lots of other people do it and so can I."
- Bombard yourself with propaganda. Take a class dealing with
the change you want to make. Read books and watch television shows
on the subject. Post motivational phrases or pictures on your
refrigerator or over your desk. Talk to people who have already
made the change.
- Build up your confidence. Remind yourself of other goals you’ve
achieved. At the end of each day, mentally review your good decisions
and actions. See yourself as a capable person, one who is in charge
of her or his behavior.
- List two strategies for boosting your motivation and commitment;
choose from the list above or develop your own. Try each strategy,
and then describe how well it worked for you. If it is not working,
try another strategy until you find one that works for you!
Strategy 1:
How well it worked:
Strategy 2:
How well it worked:
Presented by Carla Culley, MPH
RRTC
Health and Wellness Consortium, www.healthwellness.org
Source: Fahey, et. al., Behavior Change Workbook, Mayfield
Publishing, Mountain View, CA.
Support for this Web cast is provided by the National
Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
as part of its initiative to promote greater use of disability research
findings by consumers, their families, service providers, and other
non-researcher stakeholders. Specific NIDRR project support
comes from RIIL
(Research Information for Independent Living), and RTC
on Health & Wellness. NIDRR is part of the U.S. Department
of Education, and no endorsement of the opinions expressed as part
of this Web cast by the Department should be inferred.
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