Based on principles from behavioral design and change management, I designed my own personal lifestyle change plan. The core principle underlying all activities is that if you don’t believe an activity can be repeated day after day for many years, it’s a complete waste of time and even worse, a waste of motivation.

Start small with a manageable activity that can easily be accomplished, such as 15 minutes of exercise three times a week. Over time, this can help establish positive habits for the future through sufficient repetition. Identify any barriers to the desired behavior and eliminate them. In an organizational context, this could involve focusing on a key process. Identify why the process is failing, remove the obstacles, and initiate a single improvement initiative for the process, preferably one that is visible to everyone. After a trial period, plan the next small change following the same principles. For example, it could involve limiting alcohol consumption to Saturdays. Similarly, plan the next minor change in the organizational process.

By immediately implementing smaller, manageable changes, this method ensures that when the project ends or motivation wanes, you or the organization have established a set of new habits that have been repeated enough times to continue functioning even when the project leader is no longer present and motivation is depleted.