July 24, 2006

Lifestyle Changes, Attitude Changes: Finding Motivation

There’s been a lot written about finding motivation. If you feel the need to make some changes in your life, finding motivation is key to getting started. Lets face it, it’s easy enough to accept intellectually that a change is needed, but knowing doesn’t necessarily get us off the couch, out of the frig late at night, or create more quality time to spend with our family.

So why is finding true motivation so elusive? That feeling which makes you want to hop out of bed in the morning and dust off your walking shoes? Maybe you’re going about it all catty wompus. One theory regarding getting started comes from an idea based on the five stages of change. This theory states that if you’re on a journey to change behavior, but begin in the wrong stage of change, you're likely to fail.

Here are the 5 changes:

• The first stage is pre-contemplative, when you're likely to dismiss the idea of change outright.
• The second is contemplative, when you begin thinking about how the change would actually fit into your life.
• The third stage is when you take action, and
• The final stage is maintenance, when the new behavior becomes a habit.
• Maintenance, the ability to maintain the new status quo.

Of course, within this model there's relapse. Relapse is likely to occur at least once if not a few times throughout the 5 stages of the process. Think of it like falling off a horse — the best thing you can do is get right back on again. However, if you do “fall off the horse” and relapse, it is important that you do not fall back to the pre-contemplation or contemplation stages. Rather, restart the process again at preparation, action or even the maintenance stages.

Just remember, everyone relapses. Its called being human!