You have probably already planned out what you want to do and how (your change action plan), and you are undoubtedly very motivated. However, motivation is not constant, and we need to develop some strategies to ensure we achieve our goals successfully to avoid slipping back into old patterns and routines. 

Fortunately, at Optimist Performance, we specialise in creating long-lasting behavioural change, and we have some strategies and tips that will help you succeed in changing your behaviours. 

The 6 stages of change (behaviours)

According to The Transtheoretical Model (also called the Stages of Change Model), developed by Prochaska and DiClemente in the late 1970s, there are 6 stages of change:

• Precontemplation: During this stage, people are still not considering a change. 
• Contemplation: Stage where people become more aware of the potential benefits of making a change. 
• Preparation: In this stage, people are ready to take action. 
• Action: Stage where people change their behaviour and intend to keep moving forward. 
• Maintenance: People have successfully created new behaviours. 
• Relapse: A common stage where we relapse into old behaviours. 

Let’s assume that you have already gone through the first 3 stages. You are ready to take action, and more importantly, you have created an action plan. 

Click here to read more about goal setting and how to use your ikigai for goal setting. 

Let’s focus on the last 3 stages: action, maintenance and relapse. We’ll share some strategies to include in your plan if you want to achieve success. 

4 Tips to successfully change behaviours

Successful and long-lasting behaviour change requires us to break old habits and form new ones. The time it takes to alter behaviours will vary based on the behaviour you want to change, so despite how often you’ve heard that it only takes 21 days, this is not as simple as it sounds.

Therefore, let’s create some techniques that will keep us on track as the new year’s euphoria subsides and moves us beyond relying just on our motivation to succeed.

Recognise your triggers and barriers 

Whatever the behaviour you want to change, there are going to be some triggers and barriers that will make it more challenging. The first step is to recognise these triggers and barriers so you can prepare for them in advance. 

• Triggers are actions or events that play a role in prompting particular behaviours. 
• A barrier is an obstacle that stops you from achieving what you want. 

For example, a common barrier to exercise would be a lack of time. 

Once we know our barriers and triggers, we can implement strategies for when they occur. Take some time and think about the triggers and barriers stopping you from achieving your goals. 

Develop coping strategies 

We are all for being optimistic, but that doesn’t mean closing our eyes to reality. So instead of overestimating our motivation, we prepare ourselves for when things get challenging. 

Using the previous example of exercising, waking up an hour earlier can be a solution to the lack of time barrier. 

A strategy to fight against triggers can be to develop “autopilots” (the chimp management book); this means creating an automatic response or belief in your mind to react to a specific trigger. 

This may seem challenging, but in reality, we have a lot more power to change our thoughts than we believe. Since you now know the triggers and barriers to changing the desired behaviour, you can develop strategies to overcome them. 

Reward yourself 

As we mentioned before, motivation is not constant, so instead of focusing on maintaining our motivation, we can use rewards to increase our self-efficacy. 

Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in their ability to complete a task or achieve a goal. Many studies show self-efficacy is a great indicator of success when changing behaviours. The more we believe we can do something, the greater our chance of succeeding. 

Creating short-term goals and rewarding ourselves for small wins along the way is a great strategy to achieve success. It’s a way to reassure ourselves that we are capable of change, increasing our self-efficacy and, in turn, our motivation to keep going. 

Reaffirm yourself and keep your commitment front of mind 

It’s easy to feel motivated and committed to our goal at the beginning when we are creating our plan. However, routine has a way of sending us right back to old behaviours. 

Who hasn’t set the alarm to go to the gym the night before, just to keep snoozing it in the morning until it’s time to go to work? This is why it’s important to reaffirm ourselves and make sure we keep our commitments front of mind. 

Instead of setting a goal and focusing only on what you need to do, frequently think about what it is you want to achieve: what’s the outcome you are aiming for? So for example, rather than saying to yourself that your goal is to exercise and therefore you need to make time to go to the gym regularly, you might reframe it in terms of wanting to be more actively involved with your kids or wanting to join the charity walk organised by work for later in the year. You can write down your ultimate outcome, create a vision board or just keep reminding yourself of it when you are tempted to go back to the old ways. 

The Optimist View…

We know that creating long-lasting behavioural change is not an easy task, but these tips can help you stay consistent and achieve your goals this new year. 

At Optimist Performance, we also help individuals achieve their goals through our optimist coaching. Our coaches act as that critical friend and give you the time, support and guidance we all need to achieve our goals. 

Learn more about our Optimist Coaching here or get in touch with us to discover how we can help you achieve success in 2023.

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As a people-based business, we’ve looked at different approaches and the science behind setting goals. In previous articles, we’ve looked at how to change your habits to achieve your goals – establishing new habits and breaking the unhelpful ones.  We’ve also covered setting SMARTER goals and some of the questions you might ask yourself to reflect on where you are now and, looking to the future, where we can improve.

This month, we turn our attention East to the Japanese concept of ikigai and consider how we can use our own individual sense of purpose to influence and set our goals. Ikigai is a word with no direct translation to English; it roughly equates to “that which makes life worth living”, “reason for being”, or perhaps what gets you out of bed in the morning. 

Purpose is profoundly personal

Ikigai is concerned with a focus on a particular sphere of life, activity or social role which offers a real source of identity or meaning. It can be defined as something that truly makes life worth living for a particular individual. This could be aspects of social identity such as work or family or found within a sport or hobby.

Your Ikigai does not necessarily refer to your working life, nor does it need to be something grand or monumental. While one person’s Ikigai might be building a multi-million-pound business, another’s could be volunteering on a particular project or looking after their pet.

Your individual definition of success will be just as unique as you are.

Your goals will be interconnected

In previous articles, we’ve talked about siloed working within companies where departments fail to communicate with each other. Similarly, to ensure your goals are achievable, don’t fall into the trap of not considering your life as a whole when you start to define them. Writing in Forbes, the CEO of BodeTree Chris Myers, talks about Ikigai’s intersection of the spiritual with the physical, which connects all aspects of life. 

He explains: “There’s a difference between the things that are important in your life and your life’s work. Ikigai is about finding joy, fulfilment and balance in the daily routine of life.”

Myers warns against compartmentalising important aspects of our lives, such as our jobs, families, passions and desires.

Striking a balance between goals across different life areas is key.

Write your narrative to success

Writing your goals down and articulating what success in achieving them will look like is advocated in a paper on how Ikigai can optimise human performance and happiness by Prof Dr Michaela Schippers of the Erasmus Research Institute of Management.

Schippers cites the book ‘Redirect: The surprising new science of psychological change’ by Timothy Wilson. He recommends describing the goals you set in “concrete rather than abstract terms” and describes how you can create a new life story by rewriting it, which can help you break free from self-defeating patterns of thinking. 

According to Wilson, writing a ”more optimistic story …will energise you to take action”.

Make your goals positive – and public

In her paper on Ikigai, Schippers describes a study where students were asked to reflect on their goals, which could be academic or non-academic, within their first term of university. They were then asked to commit to one overall goal, which was published, along with their photo, on the university’s website. 

The students were asked to frame these intentions as “I will” commitments. These included statements such as, “I will work as hard as possible to achieve my goals” and “I will sustain the world for future generations,” which were published alongside their name and photo.

Schippers’ study showed an increase of 22 per cent in academic performance compared to previous cohorts who had not taken part in the “I will” intervention and decreased drop-out rates.

Focus on random acts of kindness, along with your goals

Within Optimist Performance, we always talk about the importance of cultivating an ‘attitude to gratitude,’ not just during the season of goodwill, but all year round. According to Schippers’ paper on Ikigai, having an altruistic purpose in life may be particularly helpful for optimising happiness. 

Random acts of kindness were found to be particularly helpful to their benefactor. The study also found helping others, especially in socially engaged ways, was more beneficial to a person’s well-being than providing treats for themselves.

The Optimist View…

At Optimist Performance, we believe that we all can find our Ikigai and achieve that balance and success. However, you don’t need to do it alone, our Optimist Coaches can help you with it, they can support you in fulfilling your potential, clarify your goals and plan your route to success in 2023. 

Learn more about our Optimist coaching here or get in touch with us for a free touchpoint first call with one of our coaches.

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The end of the year is definitely a marking point, both professionally and personally. With project deadlines, Christmas social events, Christmas shopping, goal setting and all the other things that the holiday brings with it, it’s no wonder it feels more stressful than magical. 

This is why we wanted to dedicate some time to thinking about how we can reduce the stress from the holiday season and make this time of the year as enjoyable as possible both at work and at home. 

5 tips to avoid holiday burnout:

Set realistic expectations

It’s the end of the year, not the end of the world. It’s totally normal to want to push ourselves a bit harder ahead of taking a break. However, we need to know how much we can healthily push ourselves. While a bit of pressure and stress can be beneficial, it’s essential to set realistic expectations about how much we can get over the line in just a few weeks. 

Take some time to plan and prioritise and also keep in mind that just as you are busier than usual, so is everyone else. 

Check our article about the Eustress or positive stress here. 

Looking ahead is great, but don’t forget to look back too

The end of the year is the time when we all start thinking about the new year and our new year’s resolutions, and that’s absolutely amazing, but sometimes it’s easier to forget about looking back at all we have accomplished and how far we have come. Take time to review and reflect and most importantly, take time to be grateful for all you have. 

Check out these questions to do some reflection on the past year and prepare for the future. 

Also, you can read this article to learn more about being grateful can reshape our brains. 

Use the holiday to build or strengthen your connections

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the holiday season is a great opportunity to build or strengthen our connections with colleagues, friends and family. While it may be cold and rainy, there are lots of ways to connect during the holiday season  – wrap up and get out, do something different, ice skating, Christmas markets, or a show. Make sure you take some time to be with your colleagues, friends and family, and more importantly, make sure you are present. 

Choose wisely

Even though it’s the perfect time to connect with people, it’s important to be conscious of how much we can deal with. As mentioned above, you need to be really present, so don’t feel pressure to attend every single social activity. Christmas can be a beautiful time to enjoy friends, colleagues and family, but it can also be an exhausting holiday if we don’t manage our time wisely. 

This is also an important thing to consider when organising Christmas parties at work. Make sure the events are optional and easily accessible in case people want to go just for a while. You should also think about being inclusive when organising Christmas parties, not everyone will celebrate Christmas, and definitely, not everyone will celebrate in the same way.

Don’t forget to take care of yourself

With so much going on, it’s easy to use our personal time for other commitments. However, as they say on planes, “make sure you put on your own mask before you help someone else”. 

It’s when we are busier than we need relaxing time the most. Taking breaks during the day, keeping your exercise routine and don’t overindulge during the holidays seem like small things, but they can go a long way to ensure that your body, mind and energy are ready for the holiday season and beyond. 

The Optimist View….

We can definitely relate to the feeling of wanting to do everything, all the time, for everyone. But no matter how optimistic we are, we know that we are only human and we can’t do it all. 

This is why it’s so crucial for us to take time to reflect, plan and realistically manage what we want to achieve and how and with whom we are investing our time during the festive season. 

It might seem like stating the obvious, but setting out simple intentions for the holiday season and seeing these through means you’re more likely to enjoy the benefits of some downtime and feel recharged and rejuvenated for the return to work.

We hope you all have a fantastic holiday!!

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Reflection is not only important to us, but it is also essential at every step of the way. As previously stated, we live in a society where we can be easily distracted. So taking the time to centre and point ourselves in the correct direction is one of the most effective methods to make the most of our time and ensure that we are on the right path to success.

We discussed self-reflection in a recent piece, but with the year drawing to a close and many of us already planning our goals for the following year, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take a look back. As a result, we’ll have a better idea of what we need to do moving forward.

15 questions to review and reflect

We’ve put together a list of questions to help you on your journey of self-reflection, but all of them can be used not only by yourself but also with members of your team, friends, family or community.

Answering these questions will not only help you better understand yourself, but it will also help you better understand others, and the better we understand others, the easier it will be to do the right thing for them.

In addition, with many of us working remotely and considering how quickly things are changing in the workplace, spending time to reflect with your team may be an excellent opportunity to bring the team closer together and provide clarity on people’s needs for the coming year.

Let’s start our journey of self-reflection with some questions about the past:

1. What did go well in the past year?
2. What’s your more significant achievement this year? What are you most proud of?
3. How did you grow in the past year?
4. What could have gone better? What would you do differently or don’t do at all?
5. What are you holding on to that is not serving you anymore?
6. What was the most challenging part of this year for you? Why?
7. What have you overcome this year?
8. What challenges do you still need to conquer?
9. How did you take care of yourself this year?
10. Emotionally, mentally, physically?
11. What character trait did you develop most over the past year?
12. What character traits do you need to develop further?
13. What excited you this past year?
14. What disappointed you this past year?
15. What have you not done this year that you wish you had?

Plus 5 more to help you prepare for goal setting

Once we have reflected on the past and are clear about what went well and what we need to improve, we can start reflecting on the future. Here are some questions to help you:

1. Are your goals still valid?
2. Are you closer to achieving your goals? If not, why? What would you need in order to achieve them?
3. What would you like to change in the new year?
4. What would you like to keep moving forward? What would you like to drop? (This can be a habit, behaviour, or anything else)
5. How would you like to better yourself next year? Which areas of development would you like to focus on next year?

The Optimist view…

Taking time to reflect on the past can seem a bit like dwelling, but in fact, it’s the opposite of it. Reflection is a tool to achieve our goals. Reflect is not about punishing ourselves or others for what went wrong, but rather about learning from our mistakes or shortcomings to ensure we do better in the future. 

At Optimist Performance, we make reflections part of our everyday processes. We, like everyone else, sometimes get sidetracked, which is why taking a minute to reflect is so important for us.

Reflections are also part of all our programmes; we cannot change if we don’t know what we need to change. Learn more about our leadership programmes and executive coaching, or get in touch with us today and find out how we can help you and your team. 

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