If change is so hard to make, what can we do to make it easier? One answer might be "up the stakes". Would you want to put a whole heap of effort into some change project for some long-term goal? While you might answer "yes" the evidence tells us that most people's answer is actually no!

Conventional wisdom says start out with a small simple win. Go for the "low hanging fruit" so you have a good chance of succeeding rather than getting discouraged. Makes a lot of sense much of the time. However, this way we bump up against one basic problem - motivation. Given the reality that changing behavior is not easy, is it worth the effort to achieve something relatively small?

Interesting research in the mid-1990s by Dr. Dean Ornish, a professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, found that major, fundamental changes are actually easier to implement and stick to than minor, incremental changes. This research has had ongoing impact in the area of heart disease. It seems that quick big wins are far more motivating than either quick small ones or the promise of long-term big gains. If a person can feel the practical benefits of the changes they are trying to make really quickly, this reinforces the motivation to change and does indeed make it all feel worthwhile.

It's this "feeling" that Ornish reckons is key to the whole process. Knowing a change is going to be good for you is nowhere near as powerful as feeling its effects. In order to fully engage the will to change we need to work not just with the mind but also with the psychological, emotional and spiritual aspects of change.

Ivan Sokolov