No regrets, don’t look back, best foot forward, we hear all this when embarking on something new. In many ways these sentiments are exactly the way we want to approach change, a positive no fear attitude, but often we have doubts and questions.
Fear of the unknown is so true when talking about change, the unknown, for ourselves and those around us. Confidence is what allows us to take on new things and then to grow from them. The way to become more confident is to get informed and to let others know why things are changing.
Simple? no, necessary? yes everytime. So a confident change is being able to try something and then feeling safe enough to take a step to see how it feels. Trying it on for size is always the best way to go when changing how we look or how we do things.
Making things simple is often the best way to change, we see something we would like, we learn more about it then make a move. Soon we are familiar with it can see how it fits into our lives. The challenge for us all is to make the confident changes that we choose to live with and which encourage us to feel better.
The steps to managing personal changes are fairly straight forward, but of course putting them into action needs thought and care. Here are some steps that in principle apply to managing all sorts of change:
- Be very clear on what the change is
- Understand why the change is needed and it’s benefits
- Understand who will be affected by the change and how
- What are the obstacles and objections and how will you deal with them
- What are the costs of the change?
- What are the specific steps to the change ( a plan) ?
- What will the change look like when complete?
- Remember the saying, ‘knowledge is power’, the more you know about a change the better your chances of achieving what you want and the stronger your confidence will be.
What you wrote about fear of the unknown rang true for me personally. Fear of what may or may not happen often paralysed me. However trusting in myself, my gut instinct and the help, support and guidance of those I trust enabled me to “feel the fear and do it anyway”. Now instead of being fenced in by self -imposed barriers, I’m free to explore possibilities and new experiences!
The infamous phrase “you’ve nothing to fear but fear itself” is so true. There is no perfect time to start to achieve your goals other than now. I have achieved things in the last few years that I would never had thought possible.
Procrastination is like a comfort blanket, all too easy to wrap yourself up in.
With the right support and a clear focus as to why you want the change, you will achieve.
this site is a great source of support-thank you