Nothing seems to strike fear into my clients more than a conversation about change. They are either fearful of change, avoiding change, putting off change or chasing change. I am sure you have heard people say, “Starting Monday, I will begin my diet,” or, “After the (fill in the blank), I will be more focused on my career.” Maybe you’ve even made a few excuses of your own to put off creating change in your life; you know, like waiting for New Year’s to make resolutions?
Here’s my two-cents: change happens whether or not you are ready for it, fearful of it, or trying to avoid it. So why be passive in your life and wait to see what it brings? Let’s take action and use change to our advantage.
One of the techniques I recommend to ease my clients into enjoying the idea of change is to live “as if.” I ask my clients to think of an area where they would like to see change. Let’s take weight loss as an example. I ask that they imagine the picture of their ideal body and how it would be different from their current body. I tell them that they may not use a picture of someone else’s body… because they don’t live in that body! I tell them to take their body and get clear on what that image is.
Next, my client and I move backwards from there, discussing how they got to that picture. We continue to move backwards until my client is able to say, “What would I be choosing if I were already at my goal?”
At the end, even the most change-fearing clients are able to make changes without going into full panic mode.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are many other steps and techniques that we do along the way to really help institute lasting changes, but this should give you an idea of where to start.
So, what would you like to change in your life?
