Blueprint for Personal Change

“It takes great courage and inner strength to change from what is known and comfortable to something which is new and fresh. That which is unknown often contains our greatest potential. To seek our potential by risking change is the path of true greatness. Such action brings great favor and untold blessings.”

That quote from Eastern philosophy sums up the power and fear involved with change. Whether you want to lose weight, stop smoking, alter your thinking, or change any other aspect of your life, there is no one single aspect that works for everyone. You may have to try several techniques through trial-and-error to see what works for you. It is often during the “error” periods that people become frustrated and give up the thought of change all together. The key to change is to try different techniques until you find one that works, and to stay motivated during the down times.

Psychologists and therapists have developed a number of ways to effectively help people change their behavior. One particular theory, the ‘Stages of Change’ model, introduced in the late 1970’s by Prochaska and DiClemente, has been used to help people understand the change process. This model demonstrates that change is rarely easy and often requires a gradual progression of small steps toward a larger goal.

Understanding the elements of change, the stages of change, and ways to work through each stage can help you achieve your goals. The following is a primer on change.

In order to succeed, there are three factors that should be addressed:

• Readiness to change - Do you have the resources and knowledge to successfully make a lasting change?

• Barriers to change - Is there anything preventing you from changing, or that will prevent you from maintaining change?

• Expect relapse - What might trigger a return to a former behavior – relapse often happens. This is not a cue to give up, but a reason to try new methods. Each failed attempt to implement change only strengthens the next attempt.

Having recognized these prerequisites, knowing what the Stages of Change look like, and what to expect from each stage, is the key to successful long term change.

Precontemplation – you don’t even know you need to change yet. Often the time when you hear about your need to change from significant others, and may deny their insight.

Contemplation – you recognize we need to change mentally, but really don’t feel all that interested in making the effort to change. This stage is characterized by conflicted emotions and cognitive dissonance – thinking about change, but not striving towards it.

Preparation – you’re on your way! When in this stage, you may begin collecting information on change; possibly experimenting with small changes. This is a good time to put together resources from the internet or the community to offer advice and encouragement as you move through the change.

Action – this is it – this is when you begin to change the behavior or thinking in big ways. You cut back on smoking, you change your eating and exercising habits, or you begin to alter your negative thinking patterns. During this time, you may be focused heavily on the change in your life – it important to give the change the appropriate attention every day - reward your efforts and successes, recognize the short-comings and correct them.

Maintanence - The maintenance phase of the involves successfully avoiding former behaviors and keeping up new behaviors. During this stage, you begin to become more confident in your change. This is the time avoid temptation and to replace old habits with more positive actions.

Relapse – when going through change, relapse is a common occurrence. When you go through a relapse, you might experience feelings of failure, disappointment, and frustration. The key to success is to not let these setbacks undermine your self-confidence. If you lapse back to an old behavior, take a hard look at why it happened. This is a time for self-evaluation, not self-defeat. You can quickly recycle back to any stage in the model – making changes to the preparation or action stage to insure future success.

You may feel like giving up, but now that you have started the process, it will be difficult to enjoy the blissful ignorance of the pre-contemplation stage. The success you enjoyed will be on your mind, and you will want to get back to it soon. I recommend treating the relapse as a temporary failure and getting back to the hard work of change as quickly as possible.

I’ll talk more about the psychological and historical impact of failure in next week’s article.