Creating Stories and Metaphors for Change

Stories, or as we often call them, metaphors, are a very powerful tool not only when creating creating characters for novels and movies, but when we want to give a powerful example with a moral, and help create a lasting change. Story with a morale for the children - whether as a parent or a teacher, or our clients, in your role as a life coach.

Author Joseph Campbell studied myths and tales, and identified that most of them share the same "formula", which he called: The Hero's Journey.

Stages of the Hero's Journey

There are twelve steps to the hero’s journey:

1.      Ordinary World: This step refers to the hero's normal life at the start of the story, before the adventure begins. 

2.      Call to Adventure: The hero is faced with something that makes him begin his adventure. This might be a problem or a challenge he needs to overcome. 

3.      Refusal of the Call: The hero attempts to refuse the adventure because he is afraid. 

4.      Meeting with the Mentor: The hero encounters someone who can give him advice and ready him for the journey ahead.  

5.      Crossing the First Threshold: The hero leaves his ordinary world for the first time and crosses the threshold into adventure.  

6.      Tests, Allies, Enemies: The hero learns the rules of his new world. During this time, he endures tests of strength of will, meets friends, and comes face to face with foes.

7.      Approach: Setbacks occur, sometimes causing the hero to try a new approach or adopt new ideas. 

8.      Ordeal: The hero experiences a major hurdle or obstacle, such as a life or death crisis. 

9.      Reward: After surviving death, the hero earns his reward or accomplishes his goal. 

10.  The Road Back: The hero begins his journey back to his ordinary life.

11.  Resurrection Hero - The hero faces a final test where everything is at stake and he must use everything he has learned.  

12.  Return with Elixir:  The hero brings his knowledge or the "elixir" back to the ordinary world, where he applies it to help all who remain there.  


Here is a little task for you - can you track the steps of some famous characters and match them to the stages of the Hero’s Journey? The Lion King, or Fight Club, are great examples.

Storytelling is an art in itself, but what it is most powerful for, is the influence it can have on our lives in achieving a desired transformation that lasts and help you grow.

Elena Long

Your Coach to Success

The Habit Change Cheatsheet: 29 Ways to Successfully Ingrain a Behavior -part 1 of 2

The Habit Change Cheatsheet: 29 Ways to Successfully Ingrain a Behavior

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle

Our daily lives are often a series of habits played out through the day, a trammeled existence fettered by the slow accretion of our previous actions.

BY LEO BABAUTA

But habits can be changed, as difficult as that may seem sometimes.

I’m a living example: in tiny, almost infinitesimal steps, I’ve changed a laundry list of habits. Quit smoking, stopped impulse spending, got out of debt, began running and waking early and eating healthier and becoming frugal and simplifying my life and becoming organized and focused and productive, ran three marathons and a couple of triathlons, started a few successful blogs, eliminated my debt … you get the picture.

It’s possible.

Today I thought I’d put the best tips all together in one cheatsheet.

Keep it simple
Habit change is not that complicated. While the tips below will seem overwhelming, there’s really only a few things you need to know. Everything else is just helping these to become reality.

The simple steps of habit change:

1. Write down your plan.

2. Identify your triggers and replacement habits.

3. Focus on doing the replacement habits every single time the triggers happen, for about 30 days.

That’s it. We’ll talk more about each of these steps, and much more, in the cheatsheet below.

The Habit Change Cheatsheet
The following is a compilation of tips to help you change a habit. Don’t be overwhelmed — always remember the simple steps above. The rest are different ways to help you become more successful in your habit change.

1. Do just one habit at a time. Extremely important. Habit change is difficult, even with just one habit. If you do more than one habit at a time, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Keep it simple, allow yourself to focus, and give yourself the best chance for success. Btw, this is why New Year’s resolutions often fail — people try to tackle more than one change at a time.

2. Start small. The smaller the better, because habit change is difficult, and trying to take on too much is a recipe for disaster. Want to exercise? Start with just 5-10 minutes. Want to wake up earlier? Try just 10 minutes earlier for now. Or consider half habits.

3. Do a 30-day Challenge. In my experience, it takes about 30 days to change a habit, if you’re focused and consistent. This is a round number and will vary from person to person and habit to habit. Often you’ll read a magical “21 days” to change a habit, but this is a myth with no evidence. Seriously — try to find the evidence from a scientific study for this. A more recent study shows that 66 days is a better number (read more). But 30 days is a good number to get you started. Your challenge: stick with a habit every day for 30 days, and post your daily progress updates to a forum.

4. Write it down. Just saying you’re going to change the habit is not enough of a commitment. You need to actually write it down, on paper. Write what habit you’re going to change.

5. Make a plan. While you’re writing, also write down a plan. This will ensure you’re really prepared. The plan should include your reasons (motivations) for changing, obstacles, triggers, support buddies, and other ways you’re going to make this a success. More on each of these - tomorrow.

Source:

http://zenhabits.net/the-habit-change-cheatsheet-29-ways-to-successfully-ingrain-a-behavior/

Bob Proctor - Positive Affirmations and Changing Paradigms

Never change things by fighting reality.

If you want to change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.

What is NLP?

A lot of people I meet – at my seminars, online, in my networks, are interested in the fastest ways to achieve personal change and improve the quality of their lives. So they ask me how I use NLP to bring this change to my clients, and what NLP actually is.

I give a detailed description below, but, in one sentence, my friend, NLP provides me with amazing tools which I tailor to help my clients achieve personal changes and move quickly toward achieving their goals, to clear emotions and blockages, and to overcome fear and grief, within one or two sessions.

Neurolinguistic programming, or NLP, was originally developed by a psychologist, Richard Bandler, and a linguist, John Grinder. The American motivational speaker Tony Robbins has trained with Grinder and utilised NLP ideas for his own motivational and self-help programs.
Here is the quick definition of NLP: it helps you avoid a slow, long process of change by helping you to learn to change MORE QUICKLY than therapy, for example.

Richard Bandler

Many people suffer from the lack of knowledge of how their system of beliefs and attitudes influences the quality of their lives. Their perception of their career and life in general is clouded by the excuses and reasons why they cannot succeed. This is one of the reasons why NLP coaching has become one of the leading techniques for achieving fast and lasting personal change.

Personal transformation coaching has become a major field in NLP coaching. Every successful business person works with a coach or mentor. So do successful sports people, and people aspiring to constantly improving the quality of their life.

A more extensive definition includes, but is not limited to:
NLP looks at patterns and processes, rather than content. Your coach or NLP practitioner does not dig into the story of your life and make you analyse why things happened. It instead uses language and non-verbal communication cues to identify behavioural patterns.
It is also an enhancement technique of modelling.
The main role of the NLP practitioner is to take the client – yes, YOU, from effect to cause.

NLP uses different techniques to help you develop more effective strategies in life.
It’s a way of replacing unhelpful behavioural patterns with useful, resourceful strategies. Unlike traditional techniques, NLP gives quick results in personal transformation.

The techniques I use help you with clearing, energising, and transforming your mind, body and spirit. You’ll find the NLP coaching tools applicable to all areas of your life: business - sales, management, communication, and coaching/mentoring; teaching, sports, therapy, personal growth, as well as relationships. They are proven to work, producing tangible results.

Elena Long

NLP Practitioner and Relationship Coach

Your Daily Quote - Ideas

There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come.

Victor Hugo

Your Daily Quote - Change (and Behavioural Flexibility)

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." 

Charles Darwin

Les Brown - IT'S POSSIBLE!

Changing your belief system - tips from Les Brown

Tony Robbins Backstage at Oprah's Lifeclass

Everything has seasons -nature, wealth, emotions. 

Are your emotions in a state of winter?

What is important to remember is, that after winter comes spring. Prepare for the change!

Anticipate it, so that you can turn it into PROGRESS!

Your Daily Quote - Change

When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.

Viktor E. Frankl

Your Daily Quote - Strong Will/Resolve

"Never give up until you get the skill. Don't miss the chance to grow, and RESOLVE that you will pay the price until you learn, grow, change, become.
Then you'll discover some of life's best treasures, when you pay that price."
- Jim Rohn

Wayne Dyer and Oprah Winfrey - The Wisdom of the Tao

Wayne Dyer sharing with Oprah one of the most profound pieces of wisdom: when you change the way you look at the world, the world changes.

Einstein once said: "I'm not interested in the details, I want to simply think like god."

Why Do We, and Should, Make the New Year's Resolutions List? - part 2 of 3

2. There is magic in the air - anything is possible

We are surrounded by good wishes on Christmas, by movies telling us anything is possible. And this transcends into what we do, how we greet people and relate to friends and family, or even strangers. The Christmas lights on the streets make it even more special. You feel elevated, as if at the verge of something special, something waiting to happen. You are overflowing with positive energy. And what better way to make use of this energy than to create – create a new, positive version of yourself, create a vision and build the foundations of your enhanced future!

3. You feel generous and forgiving of Yourself

At Christmas we call long-forgotten relatives, friends we haven’t been in touch with for a year or more. We buy presents, cards and chocolates – to give and receive generously. And kiss and hug even strangers at the end of the New Year’s Eve countdown. The feeling of forgiveness and generosity is so warming that you turn to the person you sometimes doubt and criticize the most – yourself. And put grand faith in your abilities to achieve better results, and to finally harness the power and courage lying deep within you. Of course you can change things around and put those positive habits in place!

4. You are relaxed and happy

And being happy and in a good mood is the best state to be, when you want to make a change.

All these factors create the best conditions to make a change, to take a big leap into the brave new world of a better you. So, my advice is, plan big, prepare to become the new, improved version of yourself!

The question, then, is how to retain your commitment to your resolutions throughout the year ahead and achieve lasting change.

We will discuss this in the last part of my article – to be CONTINUED.

Elena

Your Coach to Success
http://www.envisionlifedesign.com.au/