Strategies On Creating Effective Change
October 2014 Insights
There’s no season like autumn that screams the reality that change is inevitable. With the temperature dropping, days getting shorter and leaves turning bright colors of red, orange and yellow- fall seems like the perfect time of year to celebrate the powerful benefits of CHANGE. Yet understandable, effecting positive change doesn’t generally come easy. Rather it requires work, a conscious effort and a true willingness to push oneself out of their comfort zone. That is why so many of us shutter at the mere mention of the word change. Leaving the familiar to embrace the unknown can be a scary endeavor. So in support of a more opportunistic stance on change I’d like to take this month’s Keys To Success Insights and share some key strategies that I believe enhance its process and ease the challenges that accompanies it.
7 Ways To Make Change Easier
- List the Benefits and Reasons for Change in Writing: Change requires work, you’ll need plenty of arguments to outnumber any resistance in expending the effort to make the change a reality. GET CLEAR ON THE ADVANTAGES of the change and how your life will be transformed for the better. Use this list to remind yourself daily to promote aligning your actions with the change you’re looking to achieve.
Pay Conscious Attention to Your Self-Talk: The words you use both in talking to yourself or to others are extremely powerful. They reinforce good or bad thread of thoughts that then influence your reality. For instance, don’t say “I am trying to lose weight, it’s so hard.” Say “I am getting healthier and taking better care of my body and I can totally do this”.- Break Down The Change into Tiny Steps: Slow and steady wins the race! If you want to not only achieve effective change but sustain it, you must allow yourself the time to integrate it into your life. Create mini goals to simplify the overall objective, use the S.M.A.R. T goals technique I have shared with you in past newsletters (download can be found on my website). This will help to lessen the overwhelm that often accompanies change and provide for greater accountability.
- Talk to Someone Who’s Done It : Connect with someone who has gone through the exact change you desire or are undergoing. This enables you to have a concrete example that what you aim for is doable as well as provide as a means of role modeling and possibly help to save yourself some “trial and error” attempts.
- Build on Your Own Achievements : You surely have had success of some sort in the past. Remember those times. Consider what you did that worked for you and build on those successes as well as eliminate those actions that didn’t did serve you so well.
- Reward Yourself: Regardless of how small or big your progress may be, take the time to acknowledge and celebrate any advancement. We have a tendency to minimize the “little wins” along our journey to our ideal objective. Taking the time to reward ourselves can serve as a great motivator and promote positive thinking to forge ahead.
- Get a Support System in Place : Don’t be a superhero. Ask others for help and surround yourself with those that can support your commitment. Seek guidance and inspiration to give you that extra push you may need during challenging times.
Autumn is a perfect time of year to embrace CHANGE. Why not use the advent of this season to consider more for yourself. As a women’s self-development life coach who specializes in working with women looking to make small to big life changes, it would be my pleasure to support you in anyway I can. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me for a complimentary session. Whether or not life coaching be a viable option for you, exploring its possibilities may be just the jumpstart you need to get your wheels into motion.
Wishing You Well
-Holly-