Forget Resolutions. 5 Tips to Build a New Habit and Overcome Immunity to Change.
It’s a new year! What do you want to do differently? Many people make (and then discard) New Year’s resolutions. I generally suggest ditching New Year’s resolutions as ineffective. Build a few new habits that serve you well, instead. I can hear the subconscious complaints already, “But habits seem hard!” “That's a lot of work!” “When will I find time to do that?” Each of us has built up an "immunity to change." We have brain mechanisms that inoculate us against changes that could harm us, waste our resources, or shake our self-image. This “immunity to change” is very strong! We keep doing what has made us successful in the past, regardless of the unintended consequences and painful side effects that go with these patterns of thinking and behavior. But to learn, grow, and adapt to changes—and to get even better results for ourselves—we have to overcome that immunity to change. If you want something better and different than you have now, then you are going to have to change something. Interestingly, the more successful a person is, the greater their immunity to change becomes. We see this in both the original “Immunity to Change” research by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey and in the Coachability work done by Kevin Wilde at General Mills and the University of Minnesota. The Positive Intelligence® research also draws on this same concept to offer some practical ways to overcome our built-up immunity to positive changes. Let me share a few of those with you here.
Here’s another secret: Make a commitment to someone else and ask them to help you stay on track. Creating some kind of social support for your goals boosts the likelihood of your success by more than 50%. (This is why professional trainers and instructional designers often build accountability groups into their training programs and why individual coaching is so effective in making lasting change happen.) If we are slaves to our habits, as has been suggested going back to Aristotle (and other thinkers cross-culturally), then why not choose the habits that do us the most good? If you would like help implementing this, whether it’s for something big or small, contact me. I am always happy to help. All the best habits to you in 2025! (Thank you to Erika Andersen for “Be Bad First,” another great book on this topic!) |