What does it take to change your behavior?

In session two Prof. Stefl presented the "Anatomy of an Agency," detailing the various roles one might have in an Agency and most of all why they employ thousands of people. I think I'm suited for a strategy and research position, and it sounds pretty cool but I hope to learn more. However our discussion of perspective and behavior was much more thought provoking. It made me recall the last time I drastically changed my behavior—when I stopped eating meat.

It was nearly five years ago just after a four day event called Unleash the Power Within with Tony Robbins, and while the first three days may have changed my life the most tangible change came from the fourth day which was all about nutrition. I'd heard so many models of nutrition growing up because I was always a bit overweight, but their model was different. Rather than counting this our counting that they suggested you change what you eat. Instead of the same old dead worthless foods that people usually shovel into their body, they were pushing fresh foods even uncooked and weirdest of all "water based." They said 70% of your foods should be water based, meaning produce and most of that fresh—in fact this food was supposed to be so full of water that you weren't to drink anything 30 minutes prior, during, or 30 minutes after eating. And finally as for meat, they explained the negative effects of red meat and especially its relation to heart disease while they positioned fish as the best alternative. I was taken aback and very trusting, so over the next few months I phased out meat until it was completely out of my diet and I felt a new found energy fueled by all the fresh food I had started to eat. The diet was real, and its effects were palpable. So I carry on as a pescetarian today.