Goal factoring
Take one habit apart into the goals it serves, then find other ways to meet each goal.
Variants
- default
- Take an avoided activity apart instead
Data fields
The fields a spec's page can set for this component (see switchback show goal-factoring --json):
action
Grounding
Helps: when a habit keeps resisting replacement: listing what it does for you before looking for other means is untested craft, adapted from functional assessment, which works when a practitioner does it for someone else
Backfires: when the list of goals is a story made up after the fact rather than what the habit really serves; no study tests factoring your own behaviour
- DA persistent behaviour often serves several goals at once. Listing the goals it serves before looking for alternatives yields replacements that are more likely to be adopted than replacements aimed at its stated goal alone.Gage, Lewis & Stichter (2012), Sheldon & Kasser (1995), O'Neill et al. (1997)