Are You Willing to Put in the Work?
Dr. James Prochaska has recently been recognized as one of the three most preeminent living clinical psychologists. He is the author or co-author of over 400 publications on the dynamics of behavioral change. Dr. Prochaska has won numerous awards, including the Top Five Most Cited Authors in Psychology from the American Psychology Society.
The groundbreaking research by Dr. James Prochaska outlined in his book Changing for Good, teaches us that the reason we fail to create lasting change is not that complicated, but only that we usually skip one of 5 crucial steps. Yes, there are only 5! This is how it works. You move through each of the 5 in the order listed and if you skip one you are essentially doomed to fail. But that’s okay, you can repeat them. For example, if you go from the 2nd or contemplation stage (seriously thinking about stopping a habit or behavior), to action and skip the preparation step in between, statistically you will fail to create lasting change.
The five stages (in order):
- pre-contemplation
- contemplation
- preparation
- action
- maintenance
An unofficial 6th stage, relapse, is included because science has taught us that occasional slips are inevitable in the change process.
You must be committed and ready to work hard – the first step and the hardest stage for some called ‘precontemplation’ is when you’re not sure you want it that bad. If you don’t and you skip this stage, like preparation, you have slim to no change of creating lasting change. To learn how Life Coaching uses this scientifically proven change model visit my website to schedule a free consultation today.
Are you ready to give it a try?
“The very good news is there is quite a number of internal circumstances …under your voluntary control. If you decide to change them (and be warned that none of these changes come without real effort), your level of happiness is likely to increase lastingly.” (Marty Seligman, PhD)
