The 3 Key Components to Any Successful Change

Written by Mary Ann Bailey


We live in a world that is constantly bombarding us with changes. One would think that with all that practice, we would be fairly adept at navigatingrepparttar change process. Butrepparttar 107051 truth ofrepparttar 107052 matter is, making any kind of intentional change in our life can be difficult. When we decide to change something in our lives, we makerepparttar 107053 decision to swap outrepparttar 107054 old and familiar for something new and unknown. This upsets our equilibrium and can be frightening and somewhat disorienting. But we can lessen these feelings of uncertainty, and ensure ourselves a greater chance of success, if we initially takerepparttar 107055 time to addressrepparttar 107056 3 key components necessary for any successful change. These components are: commitment, competence, and structure. COMMITMENT: Most of us believe when we decide to make a change in our lives that we are fully committed to doing what it takes to make that change happen. But commitment can be a tricky thing. There can be part of us who is truly committed torepparttar 107057 change, while there may be other parts of us who have no desire to change. This phenomenon is known as having "competing commitments". Competing commitments create resistance; and having to deal with resistance is what often causes us to give up before we reach our goal. Example: Megan wants to start an exercise program to lose weight and increase her energy level. She signs up for a class at health club and is excited about getting started. The first few mornings go well, but then she begins to notice that her enthusiasm is waning. Megan begins to sabotage her progress by skipping classes and telling herself that her instructor isn’t really sensitive to her needs. She feels that she is still committed to losing weight and does not really understand where her resistance is coming from. Resistance isrepparttar 107058 red flag for competing commitments. In Megan's caserepparttar 107059 competing commitment turned out to be her desire to spend time with her friends. She had a weekly get-together that she assumed she no longer could attend because she had to get up early inrepparttar 107060 morning to exercise. Megan saw her dilemma as an either/or situation. She believed that she would have to give up one activity in order to haverepparttar 107061 other. Once she realized that that wasn’t actually true – that her friends would be willing to change their meeting time – Megan began to relax and her resistance disappeared. COMPETENCE: The second key element is competence. Competence means havingrepparttar 107062 skills necessary to makerepparttar 107063 change happen, or havingrepparttar 107064 time, energy, and ability needed to acquirerepparttar 107065 skill. Example: Lucy was having trouble at work with one of her workers, Kris. Every time Lucy would try and talk to Kris about her negative attitude,repparttar 107066 conversation would end up very heated and both women would leave feeling upset and unheard.

The Secret of Life Is to Get On Board

Written by Mary Ann Bailey


One of this year's box office hits wasrepparttar movie, Polar Express. It's a wonderful story aboutrepparttar 107050 power of believing. It is Christmas Eve and a little boy waits in his bed hoping to hearrepparttar 107051 bells of Santa's sleigh. As he anxiously waits forrepparttar 107052 reindeer to appear, a mysterious train pulls up in front of his house andrepparttar 107053 conductor invites him on board. The train isrepparttar 107054 Polar Express, and it is headed torepparttar 107055 North Pole. Asrepparttar 107056 story unfolds, we learn that, "It doesn't matter whererepparttar 107057 train is going. What is important is deciding to get on." It is a gentle reminder to us all of how important it is to believe and follow our dreams. Standing onrepparttar 107058 Platform How many trains have you let go by in your life because you were uncertain of where they were going? How often have you found yourself standing onrepparttar 107059 station platform watching trains come and go, trying to decide which one wasrepparttar 107060 right one for you? There you stand, frozen in indecision, asrepparttar 107061 world passes you by. In order to keep growing and learning, we need to keep our lives moving. Water that doesn't run becomes stagnant, andrepparttar 107062 same is true of our lives. We need to be willing to try new things and be open to new experiences. We also need to trust thatrepparttar 107063 process of life will take us to where we want to go if we remain aware and take advantage ofrepparttar 107064 possibilities and opportunities that are constantly being put in front of us. Jen was inrepparttar 107065 process of finding a new job. She was a college professor who had been recently laid off. She had been in education for a while, and although she had several other professional interests, she was having a difficult time actually visualizing herself in any other field. As Jen stood onrepparttar 107066 station platform,repparttar 107067 only trains that she felt comfortable boarding wererepparttar 107068 ones that were heading towardrepparttar 107069 academic world. But is that where she truly wanted to go? Onrepparttar 107070 other hand,repparttar 107071 trains that were headed in different directions were too scary to board. So, she felt completely stuck, unable to move in any direction. Getting on Board Jen soon realized that taking any train would serve her better than just sitting onrepparttar 107072 platform, so she took a leap of faith and decided to boardrepparttar 107073 next train that came along. This train took her to an informational interview withrepparttar 107074 head of local environment group.

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