Seven Key Success Factors for Personal Change
Every time you tear
a leaf off a calendar,
you present a new
place for new ideas and progress.
Charles
Kettering
Happy New Year. A time for starting your personal growth and
change actions anew.
As we wrote in yesterday’s blog post, there are many
reasons why personal change initiatives fail.
According to some scientific research, it takes on average
66 days for a new behavior to become a new habit. That’s a little over two
months!
No wonder so many people give up and abandon their
personal change initiatives before reaching success. They typically quit too
early in the process, often because they underestimate the time required to
fully inculcate and instill a new behavior or a new change into their daily
routines.
Don’t let this happen to you. Here are 7 Key Success
Factors you can use to implement any personal change initiative in any aspect
of your life.
1. Put
time aside daily / weekly to review the actions you are taking, to monitor
progress towards your goal, to make adjustments in either actions or stipulated
deadline as necessary, and to re-commit yourself to achieving your desired
outcome. Spend some time to also read some motivational quotes or anything else
that personally inspires you.
2. Give
priority to your personal change initiative over daily tasks. It is far too
easy to get overloaded with the necessities and chores of daily life. But the
actions on your “to do” list are not moving you in the direction you desired.
Create a “Priority To Do” list of the things you need to do in order to achieve
your desired outcome. Give this list priority over the things on your daily
list.
3. Write
your personal change goals in a SMART format:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-Framed
This technique has worked well
over the years in the business world. Now apply it to your own Project You
Personal Change Initiative.
Here’s an example of a not SMART
goal: to lose weight and get in shape.
What is meant by “get in shape?”
How much weight needs to be lost? And in what time period?
Here’s how to translate that to
a SMART goal: lose 8 pounds in 30 days
and increase personal fitness level by walking at least four miles three times
a week.
What you want to measure is not
only the outcome, but also the action steps being taken.
What is achievable here is
walking four times a week. If you only lose 6 pounds in 30 days, despite having
done your four walks a week, it merely means you need to extend your deadline
by a couple of weeks. You’re certainly not a failure just because you cannot
hit a self-imposed deadline.
4. Share
your goals with others and allow them to hold you accountable — when you
share your personal change goal with someone else, it helps you to be more
committed to accomplishing the goal (partly because sharing the goal is a bit
like promising the other person that you are committed to it). Allow this other
person to hold you accountable by permitting them to help you track progress,
push and motivate you, and even cajole you into action when necessary. Yes,
they may become a nag; but not necessarily more so than our own conscience!
5. Focus
on 1-3 change initiatives at a time. This is why New Year’s Resolutions
often go astray. People make New Year’s Resolutions lists that quickly tally
into double digits. No one can make that many changes in their life all at one
time. It is best to pick 1-3 that are of the highest priority for you and focus
on these. Once one or two are accomplished (which takes on average 66 days
according to one scientific study), then add one more.
6. Track
progress. If you do not monitor your progress you will not have a good
understanding of the realistic nature of the deadline you have set for
yourself. Failing to meet a self-determined deadline may or may not be an
indicator of failure. Most likely it is merely an indicator of failing to set a
realistic deadline. Also, by tracking progress you will know if the actions you
are taking are having the intended results. If they are not, you have the
opportunity to make adjustments or try new actions.
7. Recognize
effort and reward success. Too many people do not give themselves credit or
self praise for their efforts, despite the fact that such actions are highly
self motivating. There is no need to only focus on outcomes. Focus on the
actions you are taking. And, when success is yours be sure that the reward is
appropriate. Managed to lose those 8 pounds? Celebrating with a couple of
slices of pizza is fine. Celebrating by eating a whole pizza only serves to
negate your hard efforts and some of the success you have just enjoyed!
It is not enough to commit to change. You also have to
commit to action. These 7 Key Success Factors for Implementing Personal Change
are designed to help to commit to action, and then to sustain (and modify) the
actions you take.
Here’s one more tool for you to use: the Project You Personal Change Action Plan,
which incorporates these 7 Key Success Factors for Implementing Personal
Change.
For some additional help, read our article: 8 Steps for Making (and Keeping) Successful New Year's Resolutions.
And, to keep you motivated throughout the year, our book Project You: Words of Wisdom, is
available free in the Amazon Kindle store through January 3rd. The
paperback version is only $6.45.
Currently the #1 motivational book and the #1 self-help
book in the Amazon Kindle Store, Project You: Words of Wisdom is full of motivational quotes, tips, and techniques
for helping you achieve your 2017 goals and aspirations. To get your copy,
click on this link: Project You Words of Wisdom.
Best wishes for continued success in 2017.
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