Lights, Camera, Action

When most people begin thinking about changing their response to stress, they often start in the middle by trying to change the behavior. You actually need to start at the beginning by managing the trigger or cue.

Cues are the initial event that set into motion a series of behaviors that lead to some type of reward. That reward can be pleasurable or avoidance of some type of threat. But, without the cue to initiate the process, you can't get to the reward.

One of the biggest misperceptions about cues is that they can't be managed. It is true that you can't control a number of things that can be cues for habits you'd like to change; however, you do have a lot of control over things that influence your perception of that cue. For example, seeing the commercial for the latest fast food concoction when you're very hungry can prompt you to decide that is a decent choice for all types of reasons that you can seem to easily justify at the time. When you are not mentally and physically at your best, you can be much more susceptible to cues that prompt you to engage in behaviors that have short-term benefits but long-term negative consequences. Poor sleep, a lack of physical fitness, and irregular eating patterns set you up to be emotionally vulnerable to engage in poor habits, especially in stressful settings.

The other big thing that people don't understand about cues is that they can often be imperceptible. When this happens, we tend to chalk it up to a "craving." I have yet to come across a medical reason why your body needs to crave chocolate or crunchy snacks. We often just don't see how we are being prompted to indulge. For example, it's no accident that about 3 pm every afternoon, you start to have a hankering for some chocolate. It just happens to be around the time you've got to pass by the office that has candy on the desk to complete some routine task. While you just chalk it up to a routine craving for chocolate, it doesn't seem to happen on the weekend when you're at home or when you're traveling during the week. The jar of candy is always there...it's practically part of the landscape. However, it doesn't jump out at you or call your name (at least not literally), so you don't think much of it. But every time you pass by there at 3 pm, it sets up the cue followed by the routine (eating the candy).

Think about the cues that you deal with on a regular basis. Can you be better prepared to handle them this week? Are there cues that you didn't quite know were there? Once you're aware of those cues, how can you handle them differently?