Change is inevitable. January, of course, brings with it the start of a new year.
None of us knows what this year will hold, especially with Brexit uncertainty still in the air. Some of us have returned to the office after the holidays with energy and renewed vision. Others are in the thick of things already; no time for reflection but back to work again.
There there’s another type of change. The kind we want, look forward to. The kind that means a fitter, stronger, healthier future for most of us. But once it’s business as usual again, how do we bring about the kind of change we aspire to?
Change Isn’t Easy
Whether it’s in our career or private lives, change can be hard to come by. We may be stuck with an unwillingness to try something new or risk something unproven. Or it may be that we lack the enthusiasm to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone. It’s something we resist rather than embrace, despite our competing desire to drive things forward.
Many of us would welcome a significant change in our lives. So perhaps it’s the process that we wrestle with. After all most of us would like to be able to learn a new instrument or to run more than a few miles a week. That would be the kind of change we’d be proud of. What we aren’t interested in is getting off the couch and out into the cold, pushing through the pain to get to the higher performance.
Change isn’t easy. But it’s vital. Nothing we’ve experienced in life has come to us without it. But if we want to see change in our own lives, where do we start?
The Ingredients for Change
- Inspiration – someone or something inspires you. It’s like a spark inside. Inspiration is like the ignition in a car. It’s the point of impact at which everything gets started. Something that wasn’t possible suddenly might be.
- Motivation – is the desire to turn that inspiration into action. You can still be inspired by someone and yet, not motivated to do what they do or translate that into action in your own life. However, motivation is the drive we need to actually move things forward.
- Courage – being brave is underrated. Very few of us routinely step out of our comfort zones to experience something new. Even choosing something different on the menu might be a step too far! But courage empowers us to take that first step into the unknown, each time, every time until our comfort zone expands beyond recognition.
Those first three ingredients are all sparks of a kind; all aspirational in some way. But what keeps us going, what embeds a willingness to change in us so that it becomes more of an opportunity realised than a challenge we’d rather avoid?
- Perseverance – you might actually call it patience, or discipline, or practice – but perseverance is keeping the engine turning over day after day, through all kinds of weather, making it step by step from where you are right now to where you’d like to be. It’s not sexy. But it’s what turns inspiration into transformation.
Tips for Effective Change
The most effective way of implementing change is to form a new habit. Take something small and do it regularly to help you achieve a larger goal. For example –
- Write your goal down
- Share it with someone (verbally)
- Form a new habit or ritual which will enable you to move toward the goal easily
- Review and reward yourself
Dr BJ Fogg prescribes Tiny Habits. He recommends identifying existing routines – a trigger – to use as anchors for new habits i.e. if you want to get fit, try 60 seconds running on the spot triggered by turning on a kettle. Instantly you have a regular, sustainable habit which will help you accomplish a larger, long-term goal.
The Power of Music To Inspire Change
We’re in the business of inspiring change. Our work creates the spark that it takes to start the ignition. But it’s more than that too. By experiencing the performance of world-class musicians something happens to our delegates. It’s that experience which turns inspiration into transformation. It creates an opportunity to commit to something greater and provides the inspiration, motivation and courage to persevere come what may.
Find out what our clients have to say about the power of music to inspire and facilitate change –
“Ben created a powerful atmosphere. Through music he reminded us of the importance of tuning our teams and getting out of our comfort zones to be better leaders. More importantly, he inspired more than 200 colleagues in leadership positions to genuinely ask themselves what kind of leaders they are and what changes they can make to their teams. Moving Performance provided a truly quality experience which I can strongly recommend for everybody who is looking for a highly entertaining and motivational event.”
Dubravka Jusic, Head of Group Internal Communications International
TELEKOM AUSTRIA GROUP