Who would not want to change his or her behavior for the better? Quit smoking and or drinking, no longer holding things off, slimming down, more sporting etc. From now on you intend to only do things that are good for you and you will be making good and healthy choices. If it only were so simple!
But as we all know, changing is not an easy thing and it will not come without effort. Good intentions and some discipline will take you a long way. As will a strong focus on your goal. However, many other possible factors may come into play to hold you back, like self-knowledge and hereditary influences. Furthermore, most of us will need strong support from family and friends.
James Prochaska a.o in his book Changing for good: A revolutionary six-stage program for overcoming bad habits and moving your life positively forward puts forward his view that in changing you need to determine what your actual position is in a changing process (beginning, middle, end). This is important, because in different phases, people need different sorts of assistance. As much as such a conclusion may seem self-evident today, it was not at the time of publication. He was the first to scientifically demonstrate what interventions would offer the best results in a certain stage of a change cycle.
Suppose you decided to take up more sporting activities and you are at the very beginning of the cycle, then ‘awareness’ is important. In that phase you need e.g. to get information on what positive effects sports may have on your body and life. What is your physical condition, do you need to change daily patterns, how will you be feeling once you are a regular sportsman/woman?
In a follow-up phase, when sports have actually been taken up in a routine, a modest ‘reward’ would be effective.
And should at an end of the change cycle a relapse occur, then ‘support’ of friends and family is crucial. They will need to help in motivating to continue with the change process.
I was myself ‘supported’ recently by my friends Suzy (the founder of Strong is the new black) and Lisa. They had bought me a t-shirt as a birthday present with a text: JUST DO IT. They had rightly guessed that after a strong start in following a push-up exercise regime I had relapsed. I can tell you, with such strong worded support from these good friends, I quickly and ‘spontaneously’ picked up again and once more pushing up is part of my weekly routine.
JUST DO IT!
Written by Akkie Okma , Okma Advies voor loopbaan & coaching
Loopbaanadviseur, psycholoog