Secrets to harnessing change

Have you ever wanted to change something in your life so badly that you would do ANYTHING to make that change happen?

Maybe you wanted to be more healthy, deal with stress better, lose weight, gain muscle, learn a new hobby or skill or maybe to say yes to yourself more.

Whatever the change is you need to equip yourself with the tools for change.

In the book, “Changing to Thrive” by James and Janice Prochaska they discuss the stages of change.

Did you know that there are actual stages of change? There are! See them below!

The Stages of Change are as follows:

Each of us goes through each stage of change, sometimes we progress forward and other times we return to a prior stage and guess what?

That is ok! Change isn’t a straight path its a wave, a spiral or a zigzag we are always going through the stages of change.

I like to think of the stages of change like the game chutes and ladders, sometimes we are climbing those ladders and progressing and other times we are falling down a chute trying to figure out our next step or overcome a barrier.

What about pressure? Have you ever tried to stop or start a new habit because you felt pressured to do so only to fail because you weren’t ready?

It’s ok, it happens to the best of us. The great thing is, is that it is acceptable to make changes when we are ready. We don’t have to do something just because someone else says we should.

So why don’t we change when we know we really should? Why does someone who smokes not quit even though they know they really need to?

Consider the man who works 70+ hours a week… is a job change in his future?

Fearing the unknown keeps individuals from changing.

Ambivalence can also get in the way.

Reasons we don’t take steps to change:

• Don’t know how
• Demoralization – we want to change but after failed attempts we are uncertain about our ability to do so.
• Defending- addictions are behaviors we often defend, sometimes we defend the risky behavior as a way to protect our independence.
• Turning outward- we project blame on others. We displace or redirect distress onto another person or object
• Explaining away- We rationalize the behavior with logic or analyze facts.

Oftentimes we don’t make changes in our lives because the painpoint isn’t great enough. What do I mean by this?

Let me give you an example.

Jamie and John have been trying to eat healthier because they know they should, but they absolutely love their sweets and eat dessert each night.

Right now they feel that because they are eating a salad for lunch and exercising for 20-30 minutes each day they deserve to eat that brownie and ice cream each night.

One day while Jamie and John are on their evening stroll Jamie grabs her chest and suffers a heart attack. Now this heart attack is their pain point and their whole world has changed.

The heart attack this new pain point has become great enough that they are motivated to take the steps to change.

Their pre-contemplation of thinking about changing has now been fully hurled into a quick ride through the stages of change, through contemplation to preparation.

Now they are preparing to make changes in their lives so that neither of them suffer a heart attack in the future, or any other serious health scare.

It is interesting that as humans we don’t generally try to make preventative changes, the changes are usually forced because of an event that evolves our pain point into something that propels us forward.

By recognizing that you don’t have to wait for your pain point to turn into something serious you can start to take steps now, what will you do to make changes?

Secrets to harnessing change:

Ok, so they probably aren’t the best kept secrets and maybe these are a refresher for you… but you really should consider the following…

• What stage of change are you in right now?
  • It is important to evaluate what stage you are in so that you know how to proceed forward.
  • Trying to change before we are ready can set us up for failure keeping us from moving forward because we have seen in the past that we tried and failed.
• Moving forward with change at the right time when we are ready sets us up for success.
• Write down the specific change you would like to make
• Make a pros and cons list
• Write down a list of people who will support you during this change & be excited for you
• Make small goals to reach the change you desire
• Work with a coach like me! Working with a coach will actually get you to your results more quickly.
• Change when you are ready
• Be excited about the change
• Remove ambivalence

Be open to change your mind and begin to BELIEVE that the efforts you make to incorporate healthy changes in your life are really worth it.

There are SO many more things you can do to empower yourself to make the changes you desire but for now…

Just remember that you change when you are ready and that you don’t have to make grand changes overnight

Changing to Thrive requires work, but I have no doubt you can do it!

Igniting Transformation together!

Source:

Prochaska, J. O., & Prochaska, J. M. (2016). Changing to thrive: Using the stages of change to overcome the top threats to your health and happiness. Center City, MN: Hazelden Publishing.

Stages of Change Model [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pharmatimes.com/thought_leadership/the_concordance_conundrum_the_value_of_improving_patient_experience_1343288