Motivated Behavior Modification (MBM)
From Emotional Well-Being Workbook
by Ester Leutenberg and John J. Liptak, PhD.

Emotions can hinder behavioral change. The impact of emotions on a person’s motivation and subsequent behavioral changes can be monumental. Therefore, as the facilitator, it will help to be aware of any emotional barriers that may be keeping participants from being successful as they work to live happier, emotionally-well lives.

Here are some of the most prominent reasons that bar people from changing their negative, pessimistic emotions into positive, hopeful, and optimistic ones.

• Some people prefer instant gratification and don’t look at the long-term benefits and consequences of their behavior.
• Some people, even when they are conforming to the plan, experience negative emotions, and believe that a little cheating on the program is OK. They will deal with the consequences at a later date.
• Some people feel they are too busy to worry about the consequences of unhealthy behaviors.
• Some people are indifferent to unhealthy behaviors. They are the “This will never work” folks.
• Some people have a sense of invincibility and believe that they are immune to the negative outcomes of their behavior.

Calm and Collected Ester Leutenberg

Enhanced emotional well-being has been shown to contribute to one’s ability to cope with stressors and change in life, self-esteem, and longevity. In working with emotions to enhance emotional well-being, it is important to remember that emotions influence thoughts and behaviors. Emotions have the quality of alerting people that something is wrong in their lives and something needs to be changed.

Motivated Behavior Modification (MBM) is an effective tool to deal with these issues. The seven steps are:

1. Self-Assessment – Determine the frequency, circumstances, and outcomes of the emotions to be altered or enhanced. Motivated Behavior Modification relies on objective self-assessment to determine each participant’s unhealthy emotions and to establish a baseline for their strengths and limitations. Once a baseline is established, the data collected can be used to track a participant’s progress in changing unhealthy emotions to more healthy ones.

In this stage, people acknowledge that they have a problem and begin to seriously think about making healthier lifestyle changes. They want to explore in depth the level of their difficulties in changing negative emotions. Self-assessments are very powerful tools for helping participants learn more about themselves and gain valuable insights into their thinking, feelings and behaviors. Facilitators can gather information about participants to get a complete picture of each person.

2. Support System – The next step in Motivated Behavior Modification involves participants recognizing who is in their support system and identifying which people are supportive of which topics. This requires participants to think about who can support them through each particular behavior modification, what their supports can do, and how they will help.

3. Journaling – The next step in MBM is journaling answers to specific questions. Journaling has been shown to be very effective in helping people to think critically about themselves and the issues with which they are coping. Remind participants not to concern themselves with grammar or spelling. Just free-writing thoughts and ideas is the purpose of the journal.

4. Goal Setting – Goals initiate an action plan and are necessary to motivate behavioral change. These goals will help participants replace their old, negative habits with new, healthier habits. This will help to give order and context for the change process. Goals should be specific and behavioral, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-specific.

5. Monitoring – The next step in Motivated Behavior Modification is to monitor behaviors until desired outcomes are reached.

6. Rewards – This step defines rewards for accomplishing behavioral goals. These rewards will vary greatly from person to person.

7. Tips – This final step in Motivational Behavior Modification is to provide insights into ways people can deal with unwanted behaviors.

These steps are outlined in much more detail in the Emotional Well-Being Workbook. Click here to learn more about this workbook.