A long-standing central desire of mine is to help my fellows live healthier, happier lives. I do my best to center my words, my work and my living on the theme of life enhancement, yet I am often surprised by how rarely people tend to act on what they know they need to do to live healthier, more balanced lives. A circuit breaker blows somewhere between recognition of the need for change and actualization of the change and the change isn’t made.
I recently came across a promising area of behavioral research called Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Developed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, professors of psychology at the University of Rochester, SDT is concerned with supporting our intrinsic tendencies to behave in effective and healthy ways. Isn’t that fascinating?
The SDT research is relevant to my work in the wellness field. My aim as co-founder of The Spa on Green Street, a destination day spa in Gainesville, Georgia, was to create a setting that could not only inspire, but facilitate the lifestyle changes necessary to healthier living. Easier said than done. Believe me. Helping people to follow through on changes that they know they need to make, even in the face of debilitating illness or even death, can be quite a challenge!
The University of Rochester’s website on SDT (http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/index.php) notes that the three psychological needs – autonomy (you are making your own choices), competence (you can get help and you have confidence in your ability to change) and relatedness (known as there is a meaningful relationship with a guide/health care practitioner who respects and understands you) – are either supported or thwarted by the social context in which you live, work and play.
The lifestyle changes that lead to improved health cannot be made in a vacuum. They must be made real time, in the middle of a typically chaotic and fast-paced life. The changes initially put pressure on you, on those who are within your immediate sphere of influence and the blowback is not always pretty. Spouses get upset (“Why do you have to include me?”), children revolt (“I’m not eating that? It’s your problem not mine!”) and the no-man’s land between taking the initial baby steps and the appearance of tangible, visible, notable evidence of forward movement is daunting, if not downright intimidating. Once there is evidence the process becomes easier, but until then, keep your head low and move as quickly and as diligently as you can!
Goals are necessary but rarely sufficient to compel change in most people. The same could be said about the looming threat or the likely repercussions of not doing something that needs to be done. Many of the medical practitioner clients of a homeopathic/botanical/nutritional company I work with, Energetix Corporation, will be the first to tell you that eliciting compliance is one of the greatest challenges they face in their practices. Patients get fired up at the start of a process, but making it all the way from Point A to Point B can be terribly frustrating for everyone involved.
SDT is seeking to isolate the elements that ultimately help people overcome the inertia of wrong function. Researching topics such as mindfulness, vitality and passion are helping people to align their goals and behaviors. An article in the LA Times earlier this year made note of the TGIF (Thank God it’s Friday) phenomenon (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/01/weekends-jobs-happiness-wellbeing.html), noting that people, no matter if they enjoy their jobs or not, tend to be happier on the weekends. Why? For the very reasons that the SDT researchers note. The question to me is how can we engineer environments – work, home, school, etc. – that effectively nourish these basic psychological needs?
You need the emotional wherewithal to follow through on the changes you know you need to make. You must let their karma run over your dogma, as it were, so that the intrinsic compulsions to health, to greatness, to the expression of genius can be aligned with the extrinsic forces that are at play in your world. And remember, no two people are the same. So an individualized, custom-tailored plan for you is much more likely to hit the mark and produce sustainable changes in your life.
I encourage you to look into the research being done on this topic and I look forward to hearing your comments.
Gregory Hake 
Wonderful to hear more specifically about your businesses – evidence of your practical application of all the wonderful things you’ve been posting these past months! You don’t have http://www.spaongreenstreet.com/ linked to your blog but I took the time to find it. We’re planning a family vacation down the coast of South Carolina and Georgia on our way to visit family in Jacksonville, FL this summer and I am petitioning my husband to find a way to go by Gainesville, GA on our way back to Indiana so we can visit your spa – it looks beautiful!
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This is a wonderful post and very helpful for anyone in the health and fitness industry as well as those looking to make those permanent lifestyle changes. Last evening my colegue and I spent a few hours dining with some of our guests who were concerned with actively making these lifestyle changes. The biggest question for everyone was,”Why wouldn’t everyone want to make these same changes?” Each one of these guests had experience many difficulties relative to their family and their peers when they began to change the way they were living. It was evident that their changes were making many people very uncomfortable. It is so true that there is no “one size fits all” approach to creating change or any one answer as to why one succeeds and others don’t. We were able to see how valuable it is for each person to feel that we indeed we here for their support, and that they were no alone in their quest for optimal health. The study of the SDT theory is a great tool that we could all put in our toolbox of life. Thanks so much for introducing it!
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‘TGFSDT’ – Thank God for Self-Determination Theory. There is hope to get out of the TGIF rut!
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looking further into SDT – this is quite fascinating…..what is it that gets us motivated and helps keep us going is like a custom tailored suit – there is no one size fits all with an elastic band.
Their website and research is worth reading –
“….Research has revealed that having strong relative aspirations for extrinsic outcomes was negatively associated with mental health indicators; whereas, placing more importance on intrinsic aspirations was found to be positively associated with mental health indicators….” HMMM!
“……Studies have also shown that well-being was enhanced by attainment of intrinsic goals, whereas success at extrinsic goals provided little benefit”. HMMM!!!
Information worth paying attention to – what are we most motivated by and how can we make a lasting difference in other people?!!
Thanks for the heads up on this topic.
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This is such an interesting topic and one I’ve noted over the years!
You can take two health practitioners with the same training and one will be wildly successful and the other can’t seem to retain patients.
A practitioner can have the best tools in the world but if they don’t know how to hold a line with a patient . . . they will not be a successful practitioner.
The individual patient is in charge of their own healing process. A successful practitioner knows how to inspire and guide the patient toward their goals.
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Interesting LA Times article, though your post offers more of a light at the end of the tunnel on the topic. Definitely work looking further into.
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Fascinating! Thanks for the heads up on SDT – I’m really interested. Perfect timing with the school year winding down & I’ll have extra time to look into it. Who knows what can be transformed in a summer’s time! Have a great day!
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