Change Requires Motivation

If you’ve been following my blogs, I suspect you have made a commitment to change something in your life. Whether it’s our health, relationships, career, or spiritual development, we all seek a better life. The real question is, what are we willing to do to make that change happen? We know changes to ones health require consistent exercise and a disciplined diet. But breaking old, bad habits can be difficult and change requires motivation.

What helps? Defining your motivation. Lack of motivation actually takes several forms. Even when you state an intention for a specific change, you can have a sense of guilt, fear, or even regret associated with that change. Behavioral change experts agree that any long-lasting change occurs when the change is something you want – as opposed to doing it to make another person happy or something you simply think you need to do – you must get clear about why you want to make the change.

It is not enough to simply state a specific goal: You also need pragmatic ways to reach it. For example, if your goal is to increase your business, then you must create plan that lays out which clients represent the best opportunities for you. Then spend your time focusing, developing, or deepening those relationships.

The method for successful change is best evidenced in the transtheoretical model (TTM), developed in the 1980s by alcoholism researchers James O. Prochaska and Carlo C. DiClemente. TTM explains that at any given moment, we are in one of five stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, or maintenance. The first step is to identify where you are then you can continue through the process.

So, make that commitment to a specific, reachable goal today. Create that vision board, or make up a daily, repeated affirmation. Then close your eyes and experience the emotions and visual mental picture/movie showing you accomplishing that goal. Next, develop a written plan for how to reach it. Take those action steps. As you repeat those steps over time they form a habit. Those daily habits become the stepping stones that bring you to your goal.

Failure and set-backs are inevitable. Just keep moving forward, even if you encounter roadblocks, rejections, or even find yourself backsliding now and again. If you derail at any point, just readjust, and start back where you left off. Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by setting your intention, creating the plan to get there, and executing on that plan. You must be willing to change and you must accept that change requires motivation. Today is the perfect day to begin.

If you know someone that can benefit from this message, please like it and pass it along.