Acknowledgment and contemplation of change is the necessary initial stage towards changing our behaviours in order to work towards a goal.  Whether the thought of making changes is prompted by a serious health issue, lack of energy, poor sleep or maybe we just want to lose a few kilos in order to fit into an old pair of jeans we have been reluctant to throw away.

Whatever the reason for the changes we need to make in order to reach our goal, we need to dig deep into why we want to work towards the goal by aligning our identity and values to the goal or the changes we need to make will not be sustainable. 

The thought of making change can be intimidating and scary.  We might be told we have to make changes for health reasons or we feel that we should make changes for social reasons but we also may not really want to change as we are happy doing what we have always done.  We like to eat the food we have always eaten in the quantities we have been used to. We most likely feel a sense of ambivalence or resistance to change.  That is totally normal. Change can put us out of our comfort zone.

Preparation is the next stage when we are starting to make plans towards our goal in the foreseeable future.  We start to read articles and blogs, scroll through instagram and talk to our family and friends.  However we are still not sure how we will go about making the changes necessary to move towards our goal.

Finally something resonates with us; we might have a ‘light bulb moment’.  Something prompts us to take action.  

For change to be sustainable and lasting we need to break down our goal into smaller manageable pieces or skills and daily actions. Identifying a small daily action that we are ready, willing and able to do will then become a new habit.  As we layer or stack these new habits we will notice that we are making progress towards our goal and maybe, hopefully discover that we are enjoying the process along the way.