Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Managing Change In Your Life

Your comfort zone is the place you feel safe, where there is no sense of risk. To step out of this place can feel scary and the thought of transforming the status quo can be overwhelming. It is also very easy to say that you will make change in your life when you have lost weight/moved house/have more money/the children have gone to school, etc, then never make that change or come up with new excuses not to move forward.

Change can be defined as an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another, to make different; or cause a transformation.

The journey of making change is not always easy. When people make major change in their life, whether it is a voluntary or forced change, they go through a range of emotions and thoughts.

Their reactions are often as follows:

1. Denial - "it can't be true" or "I can't believe it"
2. Blaming others - "they shouldn't have done that" or "it is their fault"
3. Blaming themselves - "I should have known" or "it's my fault"
4. Accepting the new situation - "where do I go from here?"
5. Committing to change - "I'm going to do something about this"
6. Creative problem solving - "what am I going to do next?", "what are my options?"
7. Persevering and overcoming obstacles by being persistent - "I can do this!"

Sometimes people go through these stages quickly, but often they get stuck in the early stages of the model, and feel negative and sometimes depressed about a situation.

Even when making a voluntary change, such as changing your career or setting up a new business, it is still easy to find yourself in the areas of negativity. This is especially true in the early stages, such as the first days or weeks in a new job or the first few months of running a business.

It is important to get to stage 4 as quickly as possible, and to set a plan to move on.

It is also important that you think about the reactions of other people in your life. They may also go through these stages as life will be different, and you may need their support.

" Consult them when you are making decisions and seek their advice
" If you have a problem, ask for their help and listen to their views
" Involve them in your vision boardand your plan for the future

Managing change is an area where coaching can help. Clients will normally come for coaching because they want to significantly want to transform their lives. Sometimes they may not know what they want but are not happy with the status quo, or they may have an idea, but not know how to get there. It is then the role of the coach to empower them to move through the various stages as quickly as possible and achieve law of success!

If you would like to receive regular information, hints and tips, sign up for free the Self Discovery newsletter by clicking on the link at http://www.selfdiscoverycoaching.co.uk/ and receive a free life evaluator tool and coaching report.

Copyright Karen Williams 2007. All Rights Reserved

Karen Williams is a Life and Career Development Coach and runs her own coaching practice, Self Discovery Coaching. She has over ten years experience of working in Human Resources, training, coaching and management roles and is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

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