10 Tips To Change Mastery

We face change in our lives, work, and relationships on a daily basis and most of us are completely unprepared for it.

The 10 Tips to Change Mastery detailed below help individuals prepare for change, overcome stress, indecisiveness, and puts control back into their lives. If you have ever been thrown off course by change in your life, reacted irrationally to it or felt controlled by it, I encourage you to read on - these 10 Tips provide a range of techniques, self-coaching questions and tactics, adaptable to any changes in life, enabling us to become masters over change.

1 Know what you want

Define what it is you really want and the outcome. Also, be comfortable with how you want your goals to turn out. There's no point in making a change in our life if there isn't an end result in mind.

2 Know how to define your goal

When defining our goals – make sure that they are defined in the positive.
RIGHT: I want to be rich
WRONG: I don’t want to be poor

Our subconscious does not hear the word "don’t" - so the negatively phrased question becomes ‘I want to be poor’. Make sure you define your goal in the positive – stating something that you want and not something that you don’t.

3 Should vs Want

How many times have we done something because we think we "should" do it? Think back to a time where you have done something because you "should" rather than because you wanted to. How successful was it and how much did you enjoy it?

If your goal is "should" based – how can you reframe it to be "want" driven? By doing so, your success and enjoyment rate will rise.

4 Know why you want it

Explore why you really want your goal – and ensure that it is driven from a personally positive base. How motivated are you? Will it make you happy? Will it help your career? Will it fulfill your adventurous side?

Note that all of those questions were asking how it would positively affect you.

RIGHT: I want to do this project as it would look great on my resume
WRONG: I want to do this project so Clare won’t be able to

5 Assess your inner resources

Some people believe that everyone has the inner resources to achieve what they really want. How confident do you feel with that statement? How positive is your self-talk around the success of your goal? What inner resources do you need to achieve your goal? Confidence is not just a byproduct of your success - it is also a driver.

To remedy depleted inner resources – imagine a scenario where you overcame a fear or a setback. What skills, knowledge and experience did you use to overcome it? Draw on that image and note how you can use those skills in this situation.

6 Assess your outer resources

What time, money and, support do you need to achieve your goal? How realistic is your goal?

Make a complete list of what outer resources you need and mark each out of 10 – with 10 being a "I have this 100%" and 1 being "I don’t have this at all". Review any that are below 100% and develop a plan of how you can get what you need.

7 Resistance and obstacle assessment

Be prepared. Take time to assess resistance that you might face and plan how you are going to overcome them.

Also, take time to note any internal obstacles that might prevent action. How often do you say: "I can’t do this" or "there isn’t enough money" or "I won’t succeed".

Hear the internal voices and reframe them by using: "there is always a solution" or "I have succeeded in the past and I will again".

8 Create an action plan

With the assessment of our inner and outer resources – create a realistic and timely action plan.

9 Communication

Even personal goals can affect other people, so consider how you are communicating your desired outcomes to others? By keeping friends, family or colleagues regularly updated, they are in a great position to support you when you need it.

Communication can also be key in a professional environment, when you need team or senior buy in. Asking for feedback is a great way of ensuring that everyone is at the same level of understanding and on track to achieve the goals that you defined.

10 Reward & opportunity for learning

Take time to acknowledge your successes. By having a plan with clear milestones, it is easy to see progress and reward success. Also, by developing a weekly check-in with yourself or a team, you are able to keep track of and learn from the challenges.

Remember, a great way to be prepared for change is to step out of our comfort zones and initiate the changes our self. By doing this we place ourselves in a great position to define the outcomes we want and control the process from the outset. Use the 10 steps you've just read to take control!