HAVE YOU ever noticed that when it comes to relatively unimportant things, it seems that we have all changed our minds many times without any major struggle. We receive new information and we adapt accordingly. We might notice that the weather is wet and postpone a walk, or we might see a new product in the shops and try it in favour of our usual choice. It seems that we can achieve this type of change with only the minimum amount of difficulty and stress.

Things are much different when it comes to making more fundamental changes in our lives. Our natural reactions to situations encountered in everyday life, at home and at work, often bring results that we don't want and which leave us feeling bad. We often ponder, 'Why?'

When things go wrong we usually look at every other person or thing that could be at fault. It is a fact that we can usually find someone or something else to blame and this doesn't really help us to resolve things. We are often left with a bad feeling about a person, a group of people or a particular place or situation.

LEARNING ANYTHING INVOLVES CHANGING OUR MINDS
Our minds represent our own personal view of the world, and an estimation of our own place within it. Our minds are simply the sum total of all our thoughts and feelings. These make up our beliefs, habits and stored generalisations, which we use to form quick judgements of people, places or things.

Our minds provide us with a reference model of the world, which we use to pigeonhole/label our daily experience and store it away in our brains for future reference. Our minds are resistant to change, in fact the way our minds work is to try to make all our new experiences fit into our existing view of the world.

Under normal circumstances most of us only consider a change to our beliefs when there is an overwhelming necessity to do so, either in the face of a huge amount of new evidence or a strong desire to achieve different results.

IN ORDER TO HELP PEOPLE WE HAVE TO GET THEM EXCITED ABOUT CHANGE
It is a considerable challenge, how might we go about it?

Firstly we can find a way to create a state of hesitation, with regard to a particular situation. We will create an idea that 'maybe something I'm doing is contributing to this problem'.

Secondly we could encourage a state of frustration. We will get people to relive the frustration they felt in certain situations. We will refer to those scenarios, which always seem to play out in the same disappointing way, often bringing a feeling of impending inevitability along with them. We could use this feeling as an incentive to instigate a motivation for change.

Thirdly we can use this frustration to access a sense of curiosity. We will encourage an exploration of the rewards that are available to people who adopt new behaviours. We can help people build vivid pictures of the way things can be. We will help them to experience the feelings that go with success. This will encourage the motivation for change to grow stronger.

Finally with good planning, imagination and preparation, we can get people 'burning with enthusiasm' at the thought of getting new results. We can get people so keen to experience changes that they can hardly wait to give new ideas a go. Then we might provide the opportunity to get on and try things out. We can enable people to experience the reality of doing something new and feeling the pleasure of getting better results. We can repeat this to underline the new behaviour and to ensure that it becomes a habit.

If we get all this right, we can leave people with new skills coupled with the wisdom required to continually adapt and change their minds, in order to suit their environments. This will lead to both improved personal and business performance.

WONDERING HOW THIS CAN BE ACHIEVED?
Why not get in touch to discuss your business or personal training requirements.

Contact Red Rock