Three Easy Ways to Make New Change

When it comes to change, we’re told that change is hard and that we tend to fight it. At the same time we want the best life we can have—and that means some things need to change. The good news is creating positive change can be easier than we think:

Give yourself a choice

If we know anything about change and human behavior, we know that we want to have choices. No one likes feeling forced. A client recently said he was told he had to take on a project he didn’t want to. However, that wasn’t true. His boss told him he needed to take on the project if he wanted to advance in the company. Telling yourself you have no choice in a matter makes any kind of change distasteful and difficult. Owning that you have a choice doesn’t make all change wonderful but it does make it easier.

Find your motivation

When faced with change you say you don’t want, you're aware of all the reasons why you don’t want it. But have you done the work to discover why the change might benefit you in some way? If you say there are no positives, then say “no.” However, before you do that, make sure you haven’t shortchanged yourself by not seeing the upsides to saying, "YES."

Take the first steps into change

Often the worst thing about change is how hard we've made it out to be in our minds—before we even give it a fair shot. When we're fighting change, we expect it to be hard. We won't know until we take the first few steps and gather more evidence. Approach any changes you are considering with a positive attitude and then begin the process. You might end up saying, "This isn't so hard.”

- Alan Allard, Executive Coach