5 Practical Tips to Tip the Change Scale

Now that you’re venturing forth and acting on your desire to change, remembering a few little tips and tricks can go a long way to making your change journey more successful.

Some of these are tips we’ve learned about in previous modules; some are new. It may be useful to make notes about these tips and revisit them, choosing a different one to check in on each day.

Be the tortoise, not the hare.

Change doesn’t come from magic genies or silver bullets. War and Peace was written one page, one paragraph, one word at a time. Don’t aim too high or too big, too fast. Rather, take slow, small, steady steps. And try to do a little bit better or a little more each time. This generates less resistance, helps you to achieve baby wins, and those wins are what build momentum.

Be environmentally conscious

Create an (external) environment that will assist your change journey. For example, if you’re trying to spend less time on your phone, don’t sleep with it next to your bed. If you want to be more active, get a standing desk. It’s hard to change habits when everything around you reinforces old routines. Changing your environment can stimulate and sometimes force you to change your behaviours.

Be honest with yourself

Beware of “moral licensing” – where, when you show success or confidence in one area, you (perhaps unconsciously) give yourself license to trip up or be vulnerable in a related area. For example, if you’re exercising a lot, you may allow yourself to eat more unhealthy food. Nobody expects you to be invincible, but this kind of licensing can be counter-productive and cancel out the good progress you’re making.

Be kind to yourself

Success is not a straight line. Rather, it’s punctuated by mistakes and missteps. Remember what it was like learning to ride a bike? Your change journey is no different, and there will be times when you come up short, or against hurdles. That’s okay. Falling is not failing. Don’t give up. Be patient. Persevere. Aim for progress, not perfection.

(Later in this module, there’ll be some exercises aimed to help you be kind to yourself when you are struggling or when you’ve tripped up.)

Be accountable to someone

Change is hard to do alone. So, find an 'accountability partner' – someone you can go through your change journey with; someone you can report and feed back to. An accountability partner won’t just keep you on the straight and narrow, but can also provide moral support and encouragement – and will, objectively, increase your chances of success.

The last tip – to find an accountability partner – makes common sense, and is a potential game-changer. So, in the next session, we’ll provide a framework for you and your partner to work with.