Even more trip hazards!

Hello and welcome to week ten of my Advent Calendar of Change; 12 bite-sized exercises from Swim Jump Fly: A Guide to Changing Your Life. Last week we covered seven trip hazards and how to avoid them. Here are another seven.

1. Stuck in second gear

Are you driving too slowly, not dedicating enough time or energy to your change project? If you’re not sold on your goal then you’ll need to adapt, pivot, or stop your project. Or is it your personality? Do you tend to get excited at the start, full of ideas and energy, but find the doing bit less engaging? You’ll need to organise frequent incentives to encourage yourself.

2. Gripping too tightly

The transtheoretical model of behavior change says we go through stages when dealing with change: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Sarah is a coach and therapist who says we don’t follow these in order: “People can loop backwards and forwards and it’s important to factor in the possibility of setbacks and how you might deal with them.”

Sarah also says, “Typically people cycle through the process at least three times before a change sticks. Knowing this can help with motivation.” We need to let go of the fixed mindset, the expectation we will always finish on time. It’ll just make us miserable when we miss a deadline.