Let’s imagine, just hypothetically, that you have shopper’s remorse, extra Christmas pounds, and a bitch of a New Year’s hangover.  So you vow to crank yourself up out of those bad habits by sheer force of will.  Ready, set, go!…CRASH.  If willpower were all it took, you’d already be doing those things.  Until the payoff of the new behavior becomes its own reward, try bribery.  Something clicks in our brains when we do something for four days in a row (see The Four-Day Win by Martha Beck).  So the goal is to trick yourself by easing into the new behavior so slowly and pleasurably that it never feels painful.  Example: four days in a row, get out your yoga mat.  Then, stop for the day and give yourself a treat.  (Tea, nap, magazine, whatever.) On day five, add a stretch and another treat.  Rinse, repeat, treat—voila!

This was first published in Being A Broad magazine, where I write a monthly column called Advice For Renegades.  Reproduced with permission.