Change Is Inevitable
Change is what it is. It can either mean progress or catastrophe for any one person. It is how the person experiences it, that gives change a good or bad meaning. Change can be very hard to attain, but if we learn how to engage all six sources of influences and the basic tools for manifesting, we will be able to succeed in making a change. Last year was my first year in college. I had just graduated from high school and was eager to see what college would be like.
Before I started my first semester I knew that I needed to change a habit of mine in order to succeed in my college classes.
I had to learn how to stop procrastinating. This is a common habit among many college students. I knew that this habit would be hard to kick, but I created a plan for myself. I began making a to-do list every morning and on that list I would complete the hardest task first.
I put a time limit for each task and motivated myself to complete the task before or at the limit of time. While doing these tasks I would remove as many distractions as I could like my phone, laptop, or TV. I also scheduled breaks for myself throughout the day.
After making this a routine of mine for about a month, I began to notice that I had stopped procrastinating. I got all my work done on time and I was successful in many of my classes.
I learned that through disciplining and motivating myself, I was able to gain the skills to kick my habit of procrastinating. In order to be successful in making a change we first need to learn how to engage all six sources of influence which are: personal motivation, personal ability, social motivation, social ability, structural motivation, and structural ability.
In the article, “Help Your Clients to Achieve Greatness,” by Stacy Nelson, she explains to us how we can use these six sources of influence to make a successful change. The first is personal motivation, through this we learn how to love what we hate. The moment we start to see the personal, social, and environmental factors that influence us, that is when we can begin to act, “as a scientist and a subject”. By connecting our values, we can make, “bad habits feel bad, and good habits feel good”.
The second source of influence is personal ability, which is when we start to do what we can’t. To become an effective changer we need to conduct a skill scan to examine our ability to do what’s required before executing our plan. The third source of influence is social motivation, through this we need to learn how to turn our accomplices into our friends. Bad habits are usually influenced by peer pressure and by our friends and family. It has a very powerful effect on our behavior change, so in order to be successful in our change we need to choose the people around us wisely.
The fourth source of influence is social ability, which is when we get a coach or a mentor to help us succeed with our change. “In fact, people with a half-dozen active friends who play a role of coach or mentor are almost 40% more likely to succeed than those with fewer than half-dozen friends”. In this quote it proves that if we have people there to support and help us, we can be a lot more successful in our path to change. The fifth source of influence is structural motivation, which is when we reward small success and put something at risk.
By doing this we are able to motivate ourselves to make a change happen because we don’t want to lose anything that is at risk. The sixth and final source of influence is structural ability, which is learning how to control our space. We need to learn how to change the environment around us to make good behavior easier and bad behavior harder. Changing just one source will never be enough to fight off the other five sources of influence. We need to learn how to engage all six of these sources because if we do it increases our chances for success 10 times.
In Mary Monroe’s article, “The Art and Science of Manifesting,” she talks about how we can manifest our own dreams and goals and help others realize theirs. The basic tools for manifesting are: be responsible for your energy, meditate, write it down, stay in present tense, and pay attention to your mind-body practice. The first tool is being responsible for your energy. When we are in front of people and we have negative, tired, or overwhelmed energy we infect those around us with that energy.
When we are in a balanced and authentic state we can lift those around us to a higher state. The second tool is meditating. Through meditating we are able to rewire our brain and access our subconscious mind. The third tool is writing it down. If we make a list of important actions that can get us closer to our goal, it can reach our subconscious mind and it can help us become successful. The fourth tool is staying in present tense. We need to write out “I am…” to convey our intentions.
Once we get to the place of, “fully believing, feeling, and acting as if it has already occurred, that’s when it manifests. That’s the golden moment”. The fifth and final tool is to pay attention to our mind-body practice. Yoga can help clear away mental, emotional, and physical blocks that may prevent us from realizing our intentions. Tai chi is about creating internal and external balance to put us in a state of harmony and flow. Action is very important to manifesting success, but that success is not guaranteed. Change is inevitable.
In order to survive, endure, or continue to function, changes must be made and it can’t be avoided. Changes can be hard to make, but if we apply the six sources of influence and the basic tools of manifesting, we can be successful with our goals to change. Change can be viewed as both a good or bad thing, but in my eyes change is good. Work Cited Monroe, Mary. “The Art and Science of Manifesting. ” IDEA Fitness Journal July 2013: 21-27. Print. Nelson, Stacy . “Help Your Clients to Achieve Greatness. ” IDEA Fitness Journal July 2013: 29-35. Print.
