Even when you know that you want to change your behavior, sometimes it is difficult to think of messages to write. While the Health Txts: Guided Change can help with this because we guide you to answer very specific questions, it still can be tough to write messages. Be creative and remember to make them as personalized as possible for the most part. Essentially there are three types of messages. Goal messages, Action messages and Reflective Messages.
Goal based messages are self explanatory but deserve their own paragraph. We highly recommend that when trying to change you write down your goal in several different ways and send it to yourself everyday (or when you need it). For example, if your goal is to lose 15 pounds you might write some of the following messages. I want to lose 15 pounds. I want to lose weight. I want to be 150 pounds. My goal is to be a healthy weight. As you can see all of these are simple and broad. You can certainly add detailed goals to meet your overall goal as well (e.g. I will not eat white bread).
Action MessagesAction Messages are based on actual behaviors or thoughts that you will do in order to meet your goals. They may be based on avoiding certain triggers and performing a more healthy alternative behavior or just involve a new healthy behavior. Action messages are best sent at very specific times and should involve: WHAT you will do, HOW/WHY you will do it, WHERE you will do it and WHEN you will do it. So for example you might have a message sent Monday and Wednesday night at 6pm that says I will go to Spin Class at the gym on 14th street from 630-715 tonight. You might also send yourself another message at 620 that says Are you at the gym yet - you better hurry or you will be late. Leave now or a message sent at 730am Monday and Wednesdays that says Pack your gym clothes now so you do not give yourself an excuse not to go to the gym tonight. Action messages might also be sent at random to keep you on track for example you might write I will call Sarah ASAP to check-in about how I am feeling even if I think I don not need to. Reflective MessagesReflective Messages are designed to be more motivational/inspirational in nature and meant to make you think about changing in a different way. Reflective Message include messages that cover things like building your confidence to change, motivating yourself to succeed, information/advice about your goals, reminding yourself about consequences or how your unhealthy behavior does not fit into the person you want to be, or reframing how you think about a problem among others. Essentially you can write whatever you choose. There are no right answers. Though we do recommend being change focused and positive! Some examples of reflective messages include: Just because things go wrong does not mean that I am a failure. I will not let my thoughts defeat me or I will think of how I will feel tomorrow with every action I take today or How does problem gambling fit into the person I want to be? or Attempting to change IS change! I can succeed or simple information like Daily exercise has been shown to reduce depression in clinical trials. |
|
As you can see there are no right answers when it comes to writing messages. In general we recommend action messages for specific times and reflective messages to be sent at random within your messaging periods but the decision is up to you. Write as many as you can both because if you do not your messages may get boring and more importantly because writing multiple messages will help you think about your problem more deeply. |