Are You Truly Going To Achieve Change?

Many people "want" Change in their Life.

But are they actually "going" to Change?

It IS possible for us to Change as Human Beings, but the statistics around people Maintaining Change in the Long Term are Abysmal.

Why does it seem so Difficult for people to Change?

Whether it is getting ourselves to accomplish a Change, our Family, or our Teams, it rarely happens!

Really, it comes down to 1 Question...

Are You Ready, Willing, and Able to Change?

The likelihood of people Changing will depend on "how" they answer this Question.

The First Aspect is if they are Ready for Change.

For most people, the answer is actually No, they are not Ready.

Change itself is a Stressor in our Lives.

Now, it can be a Eu-Stress (Good Stress), but this will depend on the other Stressors we have.

As I always say, All Stress Adds.

If you have a LOT of Stress in your Life, even adding something that is generally considered "Positive" (such as Diet Changes or Fitness Changes) could become a Dis-Stress (Bad Stress).

If this is the case, then you are NOT ready!

This also helps to explain why so many Leaders are Struggling to get Employees to do anything different.

When 80% of the workforce is in Burnout, they aren't Ready for Change.

The other 20% is often still in Dis-Stress, just a little way from being in Burnout themselves (not Ready), and the few who "aren't" in Dis-Stress still have the other 2 Aspects of this Question to get through.

The Second Aspect is if they are Willing to Change.

The Truth is that you can't "Force" people to do things they don't want to do.

Even if people think Change could be "nice", it doesn't mean they are "Willing" to do what it takes.

Many people would LOVE to look like *Insert Famous Person Here* but would never actually be "Willing" do to the Work to look like that Individual.

If you aren't Willing to make the Changes required, you won't.

It's that simple.

Taking this to the world of Business, it becomes very easy to see Why so many Organizations are STRUGGLING to get Employees to Return to the Office.

Simply, the Employees aren't Willing, and enough of them are SO Unwilling that Employers can't seem to do anything about it.

Employers can make all the Threats they want, throw out the "Reasons" that don't make any sense or worse are based on bad Research practices that do NOT match the overall Trends, but it won't make any difference because Employees are not Willing.

You can also mix this with the fact that Employees are experiencing better Wellness (Therefore Less Burnout) from Remote Work than being In-Office which makes them even LESS Willing.

If you want your Organization to Change, you have to get them to a place where they are Willing to Change, and few Leaders have truly accomplished this with their Teams.

However, there is still a Third Aspect to consider, are you Able to Change?

You could have the BEST plan in the world, but if you don't have what is necessary to "Do" the Plan it is useless.

There are many times I've heard people say, "I'd love to do XYZ if ONLY I had ABC".

Well, daydreaming about XYZ is pointless unless you have a plan to get ABC.

When looking at Resolutions, this is part of why so many people say "Oh, I want to go to the gym 5 days a week for at least an hour", but then they don't seem to be "Able" to do it.

Work goes into Overtime, Traffic is backed up adding an extra 30 minutes to your commute, and you haven't eaten all day making you feel tired, and and and...

All these little things add up to make it so that you aren't "Able" to Change.

A good way to judge how "Able" you are to Change is to put it on a scale of 1-10.

Where 1 is Impossible to Achieve, and 10 is I will hit it 100% of the time no matter what Challenges come my way through the days, weeks, months, and years and I'd be willing to put $1 Billion on the line that I will do it 100% of the time.

If you answer an 8 or Lower, you likely won't Change.

It sounds harsh, but it's the Reality.

Life can be Hard, and Humans hate Losing.

From a Psychological standpoint, we'd rather be "Perfect" at being Mediocre, than Lose even Once at being Amazing.

By getting the Change to a 9 or 10, it is just big enough to get us out of our Comfort Zone but small enough to keep Consistent and turn the Change into a Habit.

Habits are where Real Long Term Change happens.

As a Leader, if your Team is not at a 9 or 10 in being Able to make the Changes you want, it will never happen.

That is why it is ESSENTIAL as a Leader to give your Team the Resources to be at a 9 or 10 to get to the Change you are Driving for.

If your Team isn't Able to do it, you have only yourself to blame as a Leader.

This is a VERY easy Process to use with Teams to Create Change, but few Leaders use it to their Benefit.