Stage Two: Contemplation

The second stage in making a change is when you actually acknowledge that you could, and should, change your behaviour(s).

You may do a little digging and become aware of the benefits to changing your ways – be it eating a more healthy diet, increasing your physical activity or simply adopting a more mindful approach. You may have seen a photo or experienced some other trigger event that put things into perspective and highlighted that there is an issue to be addressed.

However, here you’re still weighing up the pros and cons. It takes time and effort to change a lifelong behaviour and you ask yourself, ‘is it worth it?’ and ‘can I do it?’

You could remain in this phase for a long time if you’re not careful. Knowing that you ought to take that step towards change but never really taking it. You may have tried and failed and thus be reluctant to try again.

Do this today…

1. Set yourself a powerful, motivational goal -make it realistic and achievable and give yourself a timeframe for which to reach it. Think about how achieving that goal will make you feel; how it may enhance your self-worth, improve your relationship with yourself or others or appease your internal thinking. In nearly everything we do we seek to avoid pain, the more positivity, benefits and pleasure you can ascribe to your goals, the more likely you are to thrive and push yourself towards achieving them.
2. Think about how you’ll feel or what your life will be like in the future in you don’t make a change. How are you likely to feel in 5 years? How will it look in 10 years? How will it have affected those around you in 15 years time? 

Don’t rush into anything here, do your research, keep your pros and cons list and be sure to set yourself up for success.