PLAY!

If you don't read Pscyhology Today, you're probably smart for not getting sucked into the fun!  This month's articles are all about fun and play.  There was a particularly interesting article that relates to change:

Combine Fun and Pleasure with Habit Change

Lesson for us all:
If it's not fun, we won't do it.

This is not rocket science.  But I guess it's enough science to study it! :)

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.