At the start of every year, just as the last cold turkey sandwiches are being consumed, billions of people worldwide commit to a RESOLUTION that, with the best of intentions, they will never keep.
Going ‘Cold Turkey’ on a particular undesirable habit can work, but the application of a fancy formula may help your chances.
Developed in the early ’60s by David Gleicher and built on and refined by Kathleen Dannemiller in the ’90s, the formula for change can be stated as:
Where any of the ‘multipliers’ are not satisfied, change is unlikely to happen.
Likewise, where any or all the multipliers are ‘meh’, then Resistance will always trump (ahem) the change.
So, what do we need to do to make our New Year’s resolutions stick? I will share two successes of 2022.
After an over-indulgent 2021 Christmas, I resolved to cut back on ‘junk food’. Not stop entirely but cut back by 50%.
My waistline told me that I was Dissatisfied, I had a Vision of a healthier future diet, and I deleted my Apps and Loyalty programs with all Fast-Food connections as my First practical steps.
This was measurable in both my waistline and expenditure and by July, I had a pro-rata drop in spending by 70%. By the end of the year, this is still at 51% so I count that as a win.
My dissatisfaction led to a compelling vision, and I took practical and measurable steps to change.
On a grander scale, as I took down my Christmas tree, I felt Dissatisfied with the lack of space in my house, I had a Vision of moving to a different suburb, and I secured mortgage approval as the First step in making the change (that I had resisted for five years), finally happen.
In August, I moved, and I am very happy about it.
We all face ‘Change Management’ challenges all the time, at work and home. I believe that if you identify the NEED (Dissatisfaction with the current state), the DIRECTION (A compelling Vision for what the future looks like) and structure some easy WINS (First steps) to build engagement and momentum, you will overcome resistance and make CHANGE happen.
Happy Christmas and New Year, and enjoy the cold Turkey!
Image by Hillshire Farm from Unsplash
