How to Make Taking Action Easier when We Procrastinate on Change. Kaizen.
This one I put together from different resources but the final piece of the puzzle fell into place after reading Friederike Fabritius's book, The Leading Brain.
The premise: every time we introduce the change we trigger stresa s response. Why is that? Change requires relocation of resources, most often than not additional energy. The brain doesn’t like to spend additional energy - it might threaten survival, so the brain is kind of always against change. The bigger the perceived change - the bigger the stress response. That’s why without a smarter approach a) you won’t change your habits and life all that easily b) it’s not gonna be easy to persuade others to change, even if the change is for the better.
How to make change seem not so threatening to take action more often instead of procrastinating? 3 simple tools.
1. MAKE STEPS SMALLER aka APPLY KAIZEN
"Kaizen is an approach to creating continuous improvement based on the idea that small, ongoing positive changes can reap significant improvements."
The smaller the perceived change - the smaller the resistance and stress response. It’s as simple as starting any new thing smaller, or taking one step at a time.
Example: I was about to jump out of an airplane for the first time and I was freaking out of my mind… 3 days before! 😊
So I told myself, from now on Angela, you gonna ONLY think of one step at a time.
Now we (me and 4 other people I persuaded to sign up) are getting in the car…
Now we are driving to the jump base…
Now we are going through the safety debrief…
Now we are just boarding the plane…
Now we are just enjoying the flight…
Now we are moving closer to the entrance with my instructor on my back…
…AAAAAAAAA and it’s all the fun ride from there.
I can’t even remember I was stressed even a bit.
So, one small change at a time. The same principle with "Tiny Habits" by BJ Fogg - start tiny, it creates less resistance.
2. MAKE IT FAMILIAR
It’s as simple as designing an experience or making a statement along the lines of:
“It’s like Uber but for far-away locations…”
Or, when trying to eat healthier, “It’s a chocolate mousse but made with avocado” VS "it’s an avocado dessert".
You get the idea. New things in a familiar wrapping - that deactivates the stress response, and we and our audience are more willing to embrace the change.
3. BREATHE
Breathing, exhale-focused breathing, 4 counts in, 8 counts out, at least 3 cycles, 3 minutes is better. It switches your brain and body from figh-or-flight response into rest and digest, from stressed into chill mode - and then nothing seems quite as threatening and any change seems more approachable.
So the next time you need to take action instead of procrastinating on changes in your life, business and health habits - apply these 3 and you’ll change much faster, consistently and it’ll feel much easier!
Let me know what you think! Always love to hear some feedback, especially from practicing these.
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