Transitions for life, People in Motion

The Year of the Band Aid? – choosing transformation over change

As 2005 draws to a close, you may find your thoughts turning to the compelling clean slate of a pending new year. It is on this blank canvas that the seeds of next year’s resolution begin to take root. Perhaps you want to change jobs, improve your health or grow your spiritual life. January is a booming month for coaches (and fitness centers), as people make new commitments to change their lives for the better. In previous years, I have written about the challenge of making resolutions that stick but don’t smother. This year, I am challenging you to kick it up a notch. Perhaps this is the year that you are ready to transform.

Transformation is different than change. The Webster dictionary defines change as “to make different in some particular”, where transform is defined as “to change in composition or structure”. From this definition, you can see that transformation is a deeper, more profound process than change. Here are some critical distinctions between change and transformation:

Change	Transformation
surface	deep
external actions	inner shifts
I'm better	I'm different
how I act	how I think
external motivation (I should)	internal motivation (I am)
new learning	new belief

Notice that change is still good! By being focused on learning, taking new actions and becoming a better person, you can create great things for yourself and others. But, for this coming year, I want you to consider adding the power of true transformation to your life. Transformation is change at your very core. By altering who you are inside, how you act and react outside will begin to change naturally without repeated yearly resolution effort! For example, consider the difference between dieting (a change in eating habits) to healthy living (a transformation in lifestyle). In relationships, change may be about learning to say “no” to friends that take advantage of you. But relationship transformation is surrounding yourself with a new community of high-quality friends that equally support each other. A business transformation moves you from enhancing your inbox productivity to eliminating the inbox mentality entirely.

Change can be a Band-Aid when you really need surgery. Are you settling for change when you want a transformation? We’ve all heard stories of people that have survived a life-threatening accident or illness and went on to powerfully transform their lives in short order. Fortunately you don’t need to wait around for such a drastic event to make your own transformation!

"All change is not growth; all movement is not forward."
~ Ellen Glasgow

Steps for creating your own transformation:

Transformation likes an emotional trigger. Cancer, divorce, death of a loved one, and unexpected job loss are obvious motivators for transformation. Without being in such dire straits, you can trigger your own transformation by deeply recognizing the impact the current state of affairs has on your life. Write it down, discuss it with others, take full ownership of the problem. Get angry, sad, fed up!
Get very clear on the new outcome. See yourself in your final transformed state. How will you think, feel, act? What new results will you find in your life? Will you look different, go new places, have new friends, take on new opportunities? You have to see it to be it!
Adopt new, supportive beliefs. Identify the current, limiting beliefs that keep you in your current state. Determine which new beliefs are necessary to support your transformed state. Invest time and energy into replacing your limiting beliefs with supportive ones. Affirmations, counseling, coaching, prayer and NLP and all viable paths to rewriting your belief system to one that works for you, not against you.
Surround yourself with the right environment. Environment components include: meeting experts in your area of transformation (clubs, organizations, network), reading associated books and magazines, enhancing your physical environment, changing your schedule to make time for transformation.
Learn the necessary skills. What new skills are needed to make your transformation complete? To create a healthy lifestyle, you may need to learn about nutrition and how to use all that imposing gym equipment. To transform your approach to money and wealth, you may need to learn about budgeting, investing and creating passive income.
Take new actions! Don’t be satisfied with status quo when you are transforming. Be totally curious about your current state and why you do things the way you do them today. Try new approaches constantly, keeping what works and throwing away the rest. Become a change agent for yourself.

Give yourself time. I promote creating one new transformative state per year for my clients. Is 2006 your Year of Good Health? The Year of Total Integrity? The Year of Powerful Leadership? The Year of Great Relationships? By surrounding yourself with right, supportive environment and being committed to all the necessary steps, true transformation can be yours in just one short year.

"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
~ Helen Keller

Resources

Do you want to learn more about how to rewrite your belief system? Check out the May 2005 issue of People in Motion - Believe it! We are who we think we are.

To find our more on creating a powerful environment for transformation, join the Coachville Environment Community.

Transform your attitudes about wealth by reading Harv Eker’s Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. The book includes two free tickets to a Millionaire Mind Intensive near you!

Are you ready for more? Get a coach!