“To see a change, you have to make a change.” I read this quote somewhere recently, and I know for a fact that it’s true.
Often, doing what you do better requires making changes. Sometimes those changes are tough to make and even tougher to make stick.
I’ve made my fair share of big changes, and I know it’s not easy. But I’ve figured out a key to making changes permanent: imposing limitations.
When I first started my consulting business, I wanted to take it to a regional and then national level. To that end, I worked hard to develop relationships and contacts throughout the Southeast and in other areas of the country. After I got married and we started our family, I decided I wanted to be home nights instead of traveling all the time. That meant I needed to concentrate on consulting in Alabama—on a local level. This was a hard decision—and a big change.
To make sure I made the change, I removed from my business-development database the contact information of relationships in far-flung parts of the country. No longer could I easily make the comfortable calls to my established relationships. This forced me to call people locally and develop new relationships closer to home.
By imposing limits, I also created a sense of accountability to foster these new, local relationships.
Recently, I made another big decision to limit my consulting to one-on-one coaching. I no longer wanted to give talks to groups since that accounted for only a small part of my consulting business. To help me stick with this big change, I gave away my audio-visual equipment, my PowerPoint templates, and all my books and CD’s about how to be a more effective speaker.
This, once again, restricted my options and put me in a place where I could no longer fall back on something that was easy and comfortable.
Ironically, the very week that I made the decision not to pursue speaking engagements, I got a call from a friend looking for a speaker for a national conference. This was a big-name company, and the conference was in an attractive location. I realized immediately that I was being tested on my commitment to the change I had made. It was extremely hard to say no to her, but I did and then I gave her names of some other speakers. She was persistent and called again, but I held firm. I wanted so badly to say, “yes, yes, yes,” but I knew if I did I would have betrayed my decision to change.
That was a great exercise for me. I know that limiting my ability to say yes to her helped me stick with the big change I had made. I also know that to see a change you have to make a change.
Think about the changes that you want (or need) to make in your life. Then think about how you can limit your options and force the change. Sometimes that’s what it takes. I know it works, and I know it will work for you, too.