Stolen graphic shows addiction to change

Everyone who knows me knows I'm a huge geek.  I got a free copy of Excel because a guy from Microsoft heard me say I was a big Excel nerd.

Being a nerd, I love graphical representations of everyday life.  On GraphJam ("Life & pop culture graphed for your inner geek") this week, I saw a representation called "Fear of Change vs. Addiction to Change". 

Thanks to Emily Smith, who helped me embrace my inner geek and re-discover this website.

Stacy and Clinton

I admit it - I love What Not To Wear.  I love Stacy and Clinton, and I love the train-wreck transformations.  But in watching last night's episode (Carly from Jersey), she said "this is so much deeper than just changing clothes" - and a lot of people say similar things.  So let's break it down and see how and why the change is effective... And why it might not stick.

First, for those who don't watch What Not To Wear - you are missing out.  But, here is a breakdown of the show (or you can check out the Wikipedia page here)

1. Friends/Family/Coworkers submit footage of contestant looking horrible.
2. Ambush contestant and ask her to come to New York to spend a week shopping.  Must promise to give up entire wardrobe for $5000 of shopping money.
3. Contestant looks at "secret footage" of her terrible wardrobe.  Stacy and Clinton ask what kind of message she thinks she's giving to the world with those clothes.  Usually it's that she's a floozy.  Contestant agrees.
4. Contestant goes into the 360 degree mirror in a "typical" outfit and realizes how bad it looks.  Stacy and Clinton join to confirm how bad it really is.
5. Stacy and Clinton provide sample outfits of what is appropriate and discuss what makes it appropriate.
6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 (x2)
7. Stacy and Clinton throw out the contestant's existing wardrobe while discussing why things aren't working (too big for you, looks cheap, can't wear shirts with holes in them, etc.)
8. Contestant goes shopping on her own.  Stacy and Clinton review footage.
9. Stacy and Clinton help contestant shop, citing footage (how can we correct this) from previous day.
10. Contestant gets new haircut and makeup (Carmindy and Ted/Nick)
11. Contestant shows off three looks to Stacy and Clinton, who again discuss why the new clothes work well for her body type, activities, and lifestyle.
12. Contest goes home and shows off her new look - usually at a party with friends and family.

It is usually in step 11 where we get the comments like, "this is a bigger transformation than I ever imagined" or "I feel so much more confident" or "I never thought I could look like this."  

So let's break it down, Anderson & Anderson style.  If you're not familiar, take a look here.  I'm going to outline the steps briefly below.  Note that this goes in a repetitive cycle.

Pre-step: Hear the wake-up call

1. Prepare to lead the change
2. Create a vision
3. Assess the current state
4. Design the desired state
5. Analyze the impact
6. Plan and organize for implementation
7. Implement the change
8. Celebrate the new state
9. Learn and course correct

Let's compare!

Hear the wake-up call: Stacy and Clinton do this in a few places - particularly in the ambush (obviously), in the secret footage, and in the 360 degree mirror - people are looking at themselves in a new light.  It's a forced wake up call, but it's definitely effective!

Prepare to lead the change: In this stage, you'd look at the changes and determine if you have the readiness and capability to change.  Stacy and Clinton trash her wardrobe (step 5), so she needs a new wardrobe, and won't be held back by anything she used to own... But the readiness is something she has to reach on her own (step 2-11).  A for having the structures in place, C- for getting people ready.

 

Create a Vision: While watching the secret footage (step 3) and reviewing looks in the 360 mirror (step 4), Stacy and Clinton ask the contestant who she wants to be and what image she wants to project.  GREAT way to develop a vision.  It's unclear how often they return to the vision, unfortunately.

Assess the current state: Hello, secret footage (step 3), 360 mirror (step 4), and trashing the wardrobe (step 7).  You'll notice as you watch the show that they are constantly talking about WHY things are/are not working.  Which helps us move to....

Design the desired state: Stacy and Clinton discuss the sample pieces and how to find them (step 5)!  Brava! 

Analyze the impact: Oooh... This is not so good.  Trashing the wardrobe in step 7?  I'm not really sure.  Or have we already analyzed the impact in previous steps?  

Plan and organize for implementation: Again, with the sample pieces (step 5).  Also, what we don't see, is that Stacy and Clinton give the contestant a list of stores where they will have the best likelihood of success.

Implement the change: Shopping! Steps 8 and 9!

Celebrate the new state: This definitely falls into steps 11 and 12 - lots of praise and excitement and enthusiasm.  Focus is on the new looks and how they help the contestant.

Learn and course correct: This is really what step 9 is all about - so maybe this step should have come earlier in this process.  When Stacy and Clinton shop with the contestant, they talk about why pieces are working or not working, and we get a lot of "teaching" moments.

Well!  Stacy and Clinton, I'd say you're about a B+ on this change model.  Excellent!  Not sure if you followed this when designing your show, but you're more or less going in order (according to Anderson & Anderson), and you're doing things iteratively, which is great too!  So good for you.

What I think is particularly interesting is that it typically takes contestants a really long time to get over their mental models.  Carly from Jersey last night called everything remotely business casual a "Hillary Clinton Pants Suit" (which of course was a far cry from the fishnet top and silver leggings she showed up with).  Stacy and Clinton do little to address this  - but perhaps they should focus here earlier in the program.  They kind of write those kinds of comments off, saying things like, "just try it".  Maybe they should pay more attention here.  Similarly, many contestants won't let Nick/Ted cut their hair.  It's a security blanket.  Ted/Nick usually asks if he can cut just a few inches and the contestant reluctantly agrees, but there is little attention paid to why they have that hangup - how it got there and why they continue to be so attached to their hair.

Also, they don't have any additional support after they've made their change.  It's a week, and then it's over.  I doubt Stacy and Clinton exchange email addresses or phone numbers with these people.  So how can they continue to get positive reinforcement and they make this change?  Sure they've learned what they can in a week - but changing life-long habits takes a hell of a lot longer than a week!  

Do you have any thoughts on Stacy and Clinton's approach?

I sincerely hope my father replies to this post.  I know he secretly loves this show.  And now his secret is out!

 

Fascinated by Change

Hi Friends!

I don't know if you've ever noticed, but there are a LOT of TV shows dedicated to changing.  Have you seen any of these:

• What Not to Wear
• Biggest Loser
• Super Nanny
• Anything on the Style Network (Hello!  Mantra is "Before meets After"!)
• Tabatha's Salon Takeover
• Intervention
• Hoarders / Clean House
• at least 1/4 of the Today Show

The list goes on!

But WHY?  Isn't it frustrating enough for US to change?  Why do we watch other people struggle through it?

...Oh, right... Because they have professional help, and because their problems are solved in less than 60 minutes.  We're probably a little jealous, a little inspired, a little impressed, and a lot relieved (because it doesn't look so bad!)

I'm going to take a look at some of these shows soon.  Being a full time student with only one class allows me the opportunity to review these shows in detail.

5 Ideas to help make changes stick

It's obviously been a while since I posted... Nearly a month, in fact.  And thinking about my next post made me think... Writing approximately one blog post every week was my goal.  This would require a change in my behavior that was manageable, and one to which I was dedicated.  I saw the value and the purpose.  While these are clearly prerequisites to any change, I still couldn't make it stick for even three full months! 

It's hard to make changes stick, even if you're committed to changing.  It's hard to make organizational changes stick, even if they go really well for the first few months.

So what?

Here are FIVE IDEAS for helping you stick to changes in your life.  I'll work on these too.  Note that these are really addressing personal change, but the principles can be applied to organizational change too.

1) Start small.  Recognize progress, not perfection, and build on your successes.

(In my case perhaps just once a month should have been my first goal).

2) Schedule the time.  Until a habit is stuck, it's hard to remember to make time for it.  Likely your schedule was full before you made the change.  So put time in your calendar, and stick to your new schedule.

(Everyone who's seen my Google calendar knows I schedule everything... But until today, not blog posts.)

3) Recognize the loss.  With any change, you're likely to give something up.  Time, money, comfort, sleep - whatever it is, it's hard to lose.  So take the time to mourn the loss - it's ok to be cranky about it for a while!

4) Get a cheerleader.  Even if it's not someone who's doing the change with you, having someone to remind you, celebrate successes, and help you get back on your feet will do wonders.  A cheerleader can help keep you motivated, structured, and hold you accountable.

5) Reflect & Celebrate! Take time at regular intervals (daily, weekly, whatever works for you) to ask yourself, "How am I doing?  If I didn't reach my goals, why?  What challenges was I able to overcome, and what do I see potentially coming up?"  And when you reach your goal, take time to celebrate it.

Life, Love, and Change.

Google has a great feature that suggests searches for you as you type in your search.  For example, if I type in "Illinois", it suggests "Illinois Lottery".  For more information than you ever wanted to know about autocorrect, check out: http://www.floatingsheep.org/.  Also check out: United States of AutoCorrect

What's my point?  I promise - I do have one.

Today, I went to look for one of those quotes pages.  So I typed in "quote"... And google suggested:

quotes

quotes about life

quotes about love

quotes about change

quote

Note that Google thinks it's more likely I'm going to look for "quotes about change" than what I actually typed in, which is "quote".

It just goes to show you -- people really need a little inspiration when it comes to change.  And, apparently, life and love.

Taking a page from the Cognitive Design school

I saw this post today, and I thought it really tied into Loose Change: Rewards Change Kids' Eating Habits

This post discusses a study of parents offering rewards like stickers to kids after eating a vegetable.  After a few weeks, the kids who were generally rewarded were offered the veggie with no reward, and they actually chose to eat the veggie.  So, in essence, providing a reward actually produced the desired change.

If we use rewards to help us or others develop a change, will we be more successful?  My first thought is, "I'm an adult!  I know when I stick to a change and when I don't - and that's good enough for me!"... But is it?  Maybe it's time we start rewarding ourselves (or organizations).

Another interesting point in this article is that the kids received stickers - unrelated to the food.  Does it make sense for us to keep our rewards separate?  For example, if you are trying to change your gym habits and you make it 7 days in a row, maybe you should reward yourself with a massage rather than a day off from the gym.  If you eat your veggies for 7 days in a row, you shouldn't reward yourself with Oreos - choose a movie instead.

I'm going to do some more research on rewards.  I'm really nerding out.

Why is it hard to do things we know we should do?

There are lots of things we should just "do".  Go to the gym.  Not eat late at night.  Stop swearing.  Whatever.  There are lots of things we know we should do, but it's hard.  Someone looking from the outside might not think it's hard.  But it is.  

Change is a strange creature.  Sometimes it's a blast - like moving into a new house.  Sometimes it super sucks - like getting up early to get your butt to the gym.  

But in all cases, change takes motivation, but it also requires courage & optimism.  Two things I usually have, but not today.  Some days in the change journey will be difficult.  Courage and optimism will wax and wane.  But I think it's helpful to identify the days we're weak in that courage and optimism.  You can still be dedicated and motivated toward your change, but that motivation doesn't mean you can do it.  

Think of it this way: to change, I MUST believe in these statements:

1) I believe I can change (courage).

2) I WANT this change (motivation).

3) I believe that this change will improve my life (optimism).

For me today, I'm super struggling with #1 and #3.  I know something needs to change, so I feel motivated to make the change-- #2 done.

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.  I believe the change is going to make my life worse for a while, but eventually better.  Today, the glass is not 1/2 empty or 1/2 full; there are 4 oz of water in the glass.  But to really get moving on this change, I need the true emotional commitment.  I think we all do - we need to be emotionally invested in that long-term future state, and look past the pains of the short-term struggle.

And even though I really want this change in my life, I'm not entirely sure I have the strength to do this.  As I said, it's going to be a mess for a while.  It's going to make my life harder first, and eventually easier.  

W. Bridges, Managing Transitions

William Bridges has a framework around transitions.  He says that you have to let go of what's going on now, and that can be really really challenging.  Then, once you finally let go, it takes a while (neutral zone) to re-establish patterns - to figure out how to do things again.  Then finally you set those patterns in the new beginning.

For another model of Bridge's framework, see: http://selfleadership.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/transition1.jpg

So here I am.  I can see that I have to let go, and I simply don't have the courage to do so.  I can't see past the immediate dangers to see the long-term benefits.

This happens all the time in organizations.  We can get people on board with the idea or business case for the change, but then we see them standing on the edge, and they just can't seem to make the leap.

How can we get them to jump?  How can we give them the courage and the optimism?

Just Jump In!

Unconcious Change

Have you ever made a change without thinking about it?  Here's an example (since my brain is focused on changing language).  My parents say "garbage" - as in, "toss the paper in the garbage".  I say "trash" - as in "toss the paper in the trash".  I am sure I said "garbage" as a kid, but now I always say "trash".  I guess it doesn't matter which you say, because they're both grammatically correct and you're getting your point across. 

But I wonder--

When did I make this change, and why!?  If I did it on purpose, perhaps I could have learned from that experience.  I could apply the same principles to switching from "s#!t" to "bah!" (or whatever).

The funny thing about language (at least, your first language) is, you don't really think about it.  Thoughts get translated to words with little effort put into the words themselves.  It's hard to turn that part of the brain on - the part that manages the WORDS.  

This is the way my brain works (I think):

Dropping a bunch of papers onto a wet, dirty floor --> very bad --> express anger --> expletive
...So now I need to find a way to consciously address this unconscious translation.  And it's a huge pain.

This brings me back to mental models.  If you haven't read the literature on mental models, you should.  It's interesting.

But I think I have a mental model in operation here between [very bad --> express anger --> expletive].  That is, I have a deeply rooted thought process that says: the way I express anger quickly, efficiently, and effectively is to utter a single word or phrase.  Everyone will know by this single word or phrase the extent to which I am mad.  Hence, I will have expressed the appropriate amount of anger.  My mental model may not be "correct", but it's the way my brain is processing the world around me.  Seriously - go read about mental models.  Links at the bottom.

So do I just need a new vocabulary?  Will this new vocabulary be as effective at expression?

I'd love to hear examples from you.  Have you changed certain words or phrases on purpose?  How did you approach your change?  Any thoughts on mental models?




Mental Models - GO READ!
http://www.tcd.ie/Psychology/other/Ruth_Byrne/mental_models/
http://www.lauradove.info/reports/mental%20models.htm

Project Change Update... Early.

It's not going well... I'm not sure if I'm cursing more because I'm stressed out, or if I'm just becoming more aware of it.  In any case, I seem to curse a lot.

The Packers are my team.  The Superbowl is going to be a HUGE challenge.  The game this weekend was a big challenge, and I admit I gave up on this change journal pretty quickly.  I had one of those, "F it, it doesn't make any difference and I'm too tense to worry about it!"

The thing is, that was a perfect opportunity to practice.  And instead, I gave up.  My mind is following the path of least resistance, and it was easier to give up.  My cognitive load was too high.

This is going to be a huge pain in the butt.

Project Change

Hi Friends!

I'm going to start a 10 week change project.  It starts NOW.  I'm going to try to adopt a new change, and I'll blog about it each week.  Feel free to join in.  You can pick this challenge, or something else you want to change in your life.  Let me know how it goes. 

Sometime later this year, I'll do another change project.  This one, I'm breaking a habit.  Next time, I'll try to add a habit.  I really need to drink more water.  But, one change at a time.

What change are you doing?

I'm going to try to stop swearing.

Why?  We all swear.  It's not a big deal.

Yeah, but it's really not that good.  I mean, I slip up in places I shouldn't.  It's not like I swear all the time, but ya know, why do it at all?  I don't like it when my mother hears me say "sh!t".  And I'll never forget the time I gave my brother a lecture about swearing and then, 2 minutes later, hitting my head and yelling "F#*%!!!!"  So - I'm done.  I'm going to break the habit. 

How will you know if you're successful?

I struggle with this.  I'm going to be very reflective about my swearing.  I'm going to try to be objective, and count.

What counts as swearing?  

This is tricky!  I'm going by the Catholic test.  For those who don't know, I'm the product of 13 years of Catholic education (does that explain a lot?).  If I would have gotten yelled at in school for it, it counts as swearing.  This includes, "Mother of God" and "Good Lord" (when not used "with good purpose", as my mother says).

So friends - watch me turn from a GD caterpillar to a F'ing butterfly (sorry- had to get it out!).  10 Weeks.  1 Change.  Lots and lots of telling you all what it's like.

If you want to join me in this change, or pick one of your own, please feel free to let me know in the comments!


 .

Learn. Learning. Learned.

What does it mean to "learn"?  How do you know if you've "learned" something?  And just because you've "learned" something, can you do it?

Here's the thing: When I watch TV, I always opt for History, National Geographic, Discovery, or Science channel - because I'm a real nerd like that.  And when my boyfriend asks what I'm doing, I'll say I'm learning.  Because when I watch these shows, I'm learning about volcanoes or synesthesia or butterflies or whatever.  But just because I've watched a really interesting program, I am not now a geologist, psychologist, or botanist.  I can't do anything with that new knowledge except win trivia challenges.

...So have I really not learned anything?  

When I take a class and learn a new skill that is useful and applicable, I have no trouble saying "I learned this skill".  I can also look back on times in my life (hello! first job!) and say, "I learned a lot".  But if you said, what did you learn and how did you learn it?  I'm a little stuck.  Think about your own experiences.  At what point can you really, truly say "I learned X."?

I really grapple with this word, "learn".  I hate it because it's ambiguous and vague.  It doesn't tell the whole story.

So I ask you, readers, if there are any of you out there: what does it mean?  How do you KNOW if you have learned something?  What does it mean to learn something?

Aloha! What's going on here?

Hi Friends!  Welcome to my blog.  I am your host, Lauren Bertschy.  :)
I'd like to spend a moment (ok, several moments) introducing myself and this blog and why you should read it!

Who am I? 
Here are some adjectives that describe me: enthusiastic, curious, excitable, bold, cheerful, inquisitive.  I'm the kind of person who wears their heart on their sleeve.  I love learning and exploring.  I have a (not-so)secret love affair with the Science Channel.  I loooove National Geographic in all its forms.  My favorite podcast is "Stuff You Should Know".  My favorite website is catalogliving.net. 

I live in Chicago with my boyfriend, Nick.  We met in college.  I wouldn't have passed my classes without him.  We were best friends, then we graduated... and we've been dating since.  We have a calico cat, named Kiwi, who I adore.

I'm currently a graduate student at Northwestern, studying Learning & Organizational Change.  What does that mean?  Well, so much.  You can visit the MSLOC website to get more information.  But here are some of the classes I'm taking, that are pretty representative of my experiences: Leading with Strategic Thinking, Creating and Sharing Knowledge, Designing Sustainable Strategic Change, and Leadership in Organizations.  And that leads me to my next question...

Why am I writing this blog?
... My experiences have made me start to see the world differently - which is good and bad.  Bad, because it can be super annoying to ALWAYS be wondering about new stuff (it's exhausting!); and good, because it creates new opportunities to think about the world around me.  It's a new year - today is Jan 12, 2011.  I'm ready to start a new chapter - and for me, that means being more disciplined about all these thoughts running rampant through my brain.  I need a way to talk about all these things without annoying the people around me!  So maybe when you read this you'll start to see the world differently.  Or maybe I'll ask you a question that will change your perspectives.  And that leads me to my next question...

What can you expect from this blog?
...You can expect a lot of "thinking" questions.  Probably a little silliness and ridiculous things too.  But most of the time, I plan to write about how we experience change, learning, and knowledge sharing every day.  What can we learn from thinking about these things more critically?  How can we use it in the workplace and our personal lives?  Are there some interesting articles or things we should read to better understand what's going on? 

I will probably ask you questions, in the hopes that you will help me continue to see the world differently. 

And I'll probably write about once a week.  That's my goal, anyway.

And I PROMISE to be honest and open.