Rowing, tiaras and behaviour change

At last year’s Comms Unplugged, programmatic guru John-Paul Danon from the fab CAN Digital, was a really good sport and volunteered to be a real, life case-study in my behaviour change workshop. Here we are one year on, to check on progress.

John-Paul's Goal

We helped him define his goal around exercising using behavioural theory - to exercise for 30mins, 6 times a week.

John-Paul's pledge

To help turn this goal into reality, John-Paul pledged to,

• incorporate rowing into his morning routine, just after brushing his teeth

• use a reward chart

• there was something about no steak if he didn't keep to his routine

• and something about using the duck and the tiara.

One year on Fast forward one year on, I caught up with John-Paul in the field at Comms Unplugged 2022 to find out how he had been getting on with his challenge.

“Making a public commitment really helped me stick to my goal – especially as I felt a sense of commitment to everyone in the session” said John-Paul.

“I tried all the different behavioural techniques we talked about; like making it easy, having a trigger to stick to my habits (putting my exercise clothes the night before) and trying other things like having a cold shower to get me going.

“The end benefit, is that rather than it becoming a chore, I started to crave exercise, and rowed something like 1,000 miles over the last 12 months. “And I’m half a stone lighter and didn’t have to give up steak.”

Interested in a Behaviour Change Masterclass? We are taking bookings now for January 2023. 5 weeks to become a behaviour change expert. > Find out more > Don't worry, no ducks or tiaras will be involved.