An excellent book that I have read is called Changing for Good. According to the book, change happens in six stages. They are:
1. Precontemplation—“Get off my back”
2. Contemplation—“I want to stop feeling stuck”
3. Preparation—“I’ll start tomorrow”
4. Action—“Here I go”
5. Maintenance—“Keep moving forward”
6. Termination—“Home free”
The authors contend that no matter what, change almost always happens through these six stages. If you’re a person that is interested in helping people change or have something that you want to change, I highly recommend you check out this book.
If you are someone who wants to bring change into your life, I encourage you to consider where on this continuum you might find yourself. I cannot tell you how many clients I have spent time with only to have them leave frustrated because they thought that they were in the action step and in reality they were much more in step 1 or step 2. If you are not ready to change, that's OK. No one is here to judge you for that, but it is important that you find the courage to admit that you are not ready to change yet.
Change is hard. It involves loss and sacrfice. It is scary, it involves the unkown. Change takes time. A lot of time. It is also very rewarding and you can achieve it when you are ready. If you find yourself at #1-3, it is not a thing to be judged but more of a thing to be accepted. Understanding where we are at on this spectrum gives us more knowledge, which gives us more power to begin affecting the change we want to see.
Of course, sometimes we need to see someone who can help us begin the change process.
