Note: This is Part 5 of a 7 part series. The rest of the series includes:

1. How to Make Lasting Changes
2. From Unconscious to Conscious
3. Contemplation & Procrastination
4. Preparation & Planning to Act
5. 3, 2, 1… Action!
6. Maintaining the Change
7. Summing it All Up

You spent some time in contemplation. You’ve prepared your plan. Everything is in place for your change. All you have to do is … Act! Pretty simple, isn’t it? If I wanted to be flippant I could end this post right now.

But, wait. What’s that you say? Action is the hardest part of change?

Right you are.

Human beings are really good at procrastinating. It’s such an issue that there is an entire industry churning out motivational material, affirmations, lifehacks and even ways to outsource all of the things that you’re going to procrastinate anyway! Yet we still continue to avoid taking actions that we truly think will be helpful to us.

As one example, in the time I’ve been working on this post, I’ve managed to check my email (several times), make a big pot of soup, get some laundry done, and watch some bad television. As you can see, I’m not immune to the procrastination bug even though I’m well aware of the psychology that causes it.

By the time you or your organization has reached the action stage of change, you are convinced that you need to make a change and you have confidence in your ability to do so. You’ve made the needed preparations. Now it’s time to enact your plans. So why are you frozen? And how can you break through that feeling and accomplish real change?

Action. Change with a Big “C”

The action stage of change is where activity becomes visible. In the previous stages, most of the work taking place is in the mind of the individual, or is in the form of preliminary planning. The action stage is where all of the observable, measurable results start to take place.

This stage begins at the first concrete action – the first workout, nicotine patch, or policy rewrite – and continues until the desired change is accomplished. For ongoing changes such as lifestyle alterations, action continues until the new behavior becomes a habit or a standard operating procedure. At that point you move into the maintenance stage which lasts anywhere from months to years until the rest of your life, depending on the circumstances.

Because this stage is so visible, action is what we tend to think about when we think of the word change. For most of us change = doing something. So why do we resist taking action with so much energy? There are a few common reasons. Each of these could be a book by itself, but I will try to explain them concisely so that we can all get busy on our changes!

• Fear of Failure. Fear of Success. Completing a change has consequences. Generally, the larger the change, the greater the consequences. Some of these consequences are positive (you get healthier) and some are negative (men start staring at your newly thin body). In either event, you may have a fear of failing and not getting the positives. You could also have a fear of succeeding and having to deal with the negatives. Your internal dialogue about these fears can keep you from taking action.
• This Stuff Seems Hard. Some of the steps you have to take to change effectively may seem very difficult. To loose a significant amount of weight you may have to change your diet completely (no peanut butter cups), and keep it that way for a long time. To really change a company you may have to fire people who don’t fit into your new vision. These unpleasant realities are legitimate parts of a change process. Your motivation to change has to be strong enough to push you past these.
• Moving a Body at Rest. Human behavior has a lot in common with a freight train. It’s hard to get started and even harder to tun, but once it gets going, it gets easier and easier to keep it moving. However, the initial step of getting the train going can be really daunting.

Three Ways to (Temporarily) Overcome Procrastination

Let’s be honest. I cannot stop you from procrastinating. Entire industries of self-help books cannot stop you from procrastinating. You will always procrastinate to one degree or another. However, there are lots of ways to temporarily get past your blocks and start acting.

1. Use Your Momentum. By passing through the contemplation and preparation stages with energy and focus, you have gained some momentum that will help you power through some of the blocks and objections you may have to parts of the change. You’ve already done some of the hard work of getting the freight train rolling. By moving quickly (are you sensing a theme by now) to implement the initial steps of your change you keep your momentum going.
2. Take Mircrosteps. There are many changes that require hard work, but they usually don’t require all the hard work to be done at once. Strategize ways that you can break up the change into very small steps. Then get started one walk, one cigarette, one procedure at a time. I’ve used this technique myself on long runs. If I’m getting tired, I’ll concentrate on just reaching the next telephone pole, then the next, then the next. Do this enough and you will make lots of progress.
3. Keep Your Motivation High. Constantly remind yourself of why you decided to make a change. What are the consequences of not completing the change? What pain will you have to go through? How great will it feel when you have accomplished your goal? Change can be a long road. By keeping yourself focused on your motivation you can keep going until you start to see the benefits of the change.

What’s Next?

Most of us think of change as being done at the action stage. We make our plan, we act on it, end of story. This isn’t actually the case. Think about it this way. Would you buy a car and then never get the oil changed? (If you said yes, this series probably isn’t for you ) Like cars, most changes require some ongoing Maintenance. That’s what we’ll cover in the next part of this series.

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1. Project Management, Change Management and Personal Development: Where is the Crossroads?

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