How to Make Changes That Stick

The Formula for Change

(D x V) + F > R

(Dissatisfaction x Vision) + First Steps > (must be greater than) Resistance (to change)

Do you have something in your business or in your life that you know you need to change?

If you answered “no”, congratulations. You are a unicorn. I thought that they were mystical beings but apparently, you do exist.  

 For the rest of us, changing habits and stepping outside of our comfort zone is extremely challenging

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Why is it SO HARD to change?

Your body is hardwired to do two things first and foremost:

1) Survive and Thrive

2) Conserve Calories

On a daily basis, your body uses 600-800 calories just to operate within your daily routine (i.e. your comfort zone).

Anything above and beyond that takes some serious convincing.

Great, so now what?

Making a change starts with self-awareness.

You need to recognize what it is that you are resisting, AND WHY YOU ARE STRUGGLING TO CHANGE YOUR MINDSET AND BEHAVIOR .

Once you are clear on that, you can begin to use the formula for change.

(D x V) + First Steps > R

(Dissatisfaction x Vision) + First Steps > (must be greater than) Resistance (to change)

Dissatisfaction

Are you dissatisfied with the current state of affairs?

First of all, notice that that “D” and “V” are in parenthesis, and remember how multiplication works.

Anything times zero is zero.

If you are not dissatisfied, if “good enough” is truly enough for you, then don’t expect much change to happen for you. It will take a lot of convincing for your brain to focus on something new if you are happy with where you are.

However, if you are not satisfied and honestly want to improve your situation, get clear on what you are dissatisfied with.

“Towards” goals and “Away” goals

We are all motived differently.

Some of us are motivated by making things stop or moving away from them.

That could be:

- “I want to stop working 50 hours a week”

- “I don’t want to worry about barely scraping by and being able to make payroll each month”

- “Not being able to take time off”

- “Not having enough leads in my pipeline to makes the sales I need”

If this resonates with you, you can set your goals in that manner.

This is where really focusing on your dissatisfaction can help to motivate you, and convince your brain that it is worth expending some of those precious calories on changing this situation.

Vision

If you are “Towards” motived, you may want to take a different approach.

“Towards” motivated people are motived more by how great things could be.

You have a big vision for the future of your business and you daydream about how great it would feel if you had more time, more money and more employees.

- “When my business hits $1,000,000 in revenue, I am going to buy a sports car!”

- “When my business is finished, I am going to have 10 locations across the state!”

- “I am going to hire a GM to run my business and I will take 3 months off and travel across Europe!”

The Challenge

The challenge here is that regardless of what motivates you more, you need to be clear on BOTH of these for change to happen.

Therefore, if you are an optimist, you need to remind yourself of the dissatisfaction that you feel as well as your vision. Otherwise, you are in danger of falling back into your comfort zone.

First Steps

This is where so many of us stumble because it seems like the best way to make change happen.

We immediately go and try and make change happen by using all of our energy on figuring out what the first steps are, and don’t take enough time getting clear on our “D” and “V” and then we wonder why we are having such a hard time implementing this new strategy.

There are no shortcuts here. It will be infinitely harder for you to change if you don’t get clear on your “why” before you work on the “what”.

The good news is that once you are clear on your “why” there are tons of resources to assist you on those first steps. Here’s some that we offer

Resistance

Overcoming resistance starts with UNDERSTANDING WHY YOU ARE EXPERIENCING IT

Work the formula backwards

There are also ways that you can reduce your resistance to changing that part of yourself or your business as well.

Think of it this way..

If you are having a tough time getting clear on what you need to do to market your business better, then your brain knows this. So, whenever you start trying to put that marketing plan together, it wants to stop you so it can conserve those calories and help you survive and thrive.

What can you do to make it easier for yourself?

If it is a skills or knowledge issue, try reading a book or taking a class on marketing.

The clearer you are on what needs to change, the less resistance you are going to feel towards making that change happen.

This can be particularly helpful if you are not experiencing a large amount of “Dissatisfaction” and/or have excitement around your “Vision”.

Where do I Start?

Start with making sure you are clear on what your goals are.

If you haven’t written a Vision and Mission Statement for your business, get busy on that right now.

When identifying what you want to change, check in with yourself to see if you are excited about the outcome. If not, you will not stick with it long enough for it to become a habit.

As with anything out of your comfort zone, this will take some time before it becomes routine and falls within those 800 calories that your brain holds on to so tightly, so be prepared to feel discomfort and know that when you come out on the other side you will own that part of your business and be able to move on to your next goal!

HOMEFUN

- Choose 1 Part of your business (or personal life) that you want to change

- Go through the Formula for Change and Identify each component and how it relates to your current situation

- Write an Action Plan for how you are going to implement this change

- Commit to this plan for 90 Days

Let's get busy!