Ask family and friends for positive reinforcement when you follow through on a change. While it isn t unusual to slip up a few times during this stage, do your best not to. It can undermine your commitment to change. But if you do, don t let one mistake obliterate your efforts. After about six months in the action stage, you will find yourself transitioning into maintenance.
Maintenance is the long haul, for most people, a lifetime commitment.
Successful maintenance of change depends on more than avoiding temptation and rewarding yourself for good behaviors. You must rethink what you found appealing about the habit in the first place. You may remember that having a cigarette calmed your nerves after a stressful day at work. Now is the time to find new, less self-destructive ways to deal with that stress. Don t delude yourself into thinking that you re strong enough to have one drink, cigarette, or brownie, and then control yourself from having another.