Cost Benefit Analysis

Do this DBT exercise three times, working on different problematic behavior each time. Then use as needed

Listing the costs and benefits of engaging in a behavior that is harmful for you is a powerful tool for changing your bad habits. This technique can help you see more clearly things that you overlooked. Also, it will help you accept and make peace with the fact that there is concrete evidence for why it's bad for you to engage in the problematic behavior. This is a very good start for changing the bad habit.

Step One: Choose a Behavior

First, think of behaviors in your life that are not particularly useful to you. It can be anything. Which one of your habits would you like to change? Maybe you already tried changing them but you still haven't succeeded in that. Perhaps you want to eat healthy or work out regularly. Other common problematic behaviors may include: smoking, eating too much, spending a lot of money impulsively, spending a lot of time in front of the TV, drinking too much alcohol. It can be anything. Take a moment and think about the habits in your life that you want to change. Then pick one habit that you want to work on the most.

For this exercise, you will need to be writing things down so you will need to print out the worksheet. After you do this exercise you will want to remind yourself of the costs and benefits that you wrote down, or maybe you would want to add other costs and benefits that you may come up with later.

Step Two: Cost of Engaging in Problematic Behavior

Write down every negative consequence that results from you doing the bad habit. Take your time and brainstorm. Start with what is already obvious to you, and then try to extend your list to all the cons that you can think of. In the beginning, you might not be used to thinking about your habit in this way, but gradually you will come up with pros and cons more easily.

Step Three: Benefits of Engaging in the Problematic Behavior

Write down the reasons why you do the bad habit in the first place. We all have certain reasons for whatever problematic behavior we engage in. Usually, these "benefits" are just short-term rewards that make us feel good immediately, but in the long-term they might do us more damage than good.

Step Four: Costs of Engaging in an Alternative Behavior

It is not easy to change a habit. In this part, think of all the negative sides of changing your behavior. Changing behaviors requires effort and energy, paying close attention to what you choose to do. It is usually a stretch out of our comfort zone and it may take a while until you become comfortable with this new alternative behavior. So, think of all the costs of making the change.

Step Five: Benefits of Engaging in an Alternative Behavior

Be creative and just visualize and have fun with all the possible benefits you'll have once you change the problematic behavior. Again, start with the obvious ones, and then really think about it and extend the list with benefits that maybe you previously haven't thought of. Try not only to list the benefits so that you'll complete the exercise, but really try to imagine the feeling of these benefits! Feel how much more energy you'll have, the long-term satisfaction, and fulfillment you'll feel!

Step Six: Score Costs and Benefits

For every cost or benefit you'll write down, think about the importance that each of these reasons has for you. Write it down on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being extremely important) after each cost or benefit. You'll find that even if you can immediately list a lot of benefits to engaging in the problematic behavior, they will probably not be as important as the costs of doing the bad habit. Then compare the points of importance. You will probably notice that the costs of engaging in the problematic behavior and the benefits of doing the alternative action are much more important.

Problematic Behavior: Eating too much junk food

Alternative Behavior: Eating healthy