Have you ever been completely lit-up by a great speaker and then found yourself wondering why those brilliant ideas haven\u2019t changed a thing that you\u2019re doing in your life or your business? Maybe you\u2019ve even made a bold declaration to change, calling upon all the determination you can muster and yet a few months later it\u2019s like a New Year\u2019s Resolution in early March, just a vague memory.<\/p>\n
If you suffer from massive bursts of inspiration followed by business as usual, you\u2019re not alone.\u00a0\u00a0 There’s actually a name for this phenomenon–it’s called the \u2018Honeymoon Effect.<\/em>\u2019 \u00a0It\u2019s a time when you\u2019re blissfully lit up by a new idea before descending back to your old reality, back to the status quo of how you\u2019ve always done things.<\/p>\n So what gives?\u00a0 Why is inspiration not enough to create change?\u00a0 After studying why most individual and organizational change-efforts fail,\u00a0 Positive Psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar concludes:<\/p>\n Real change doesn\u2019t come from an insight. Real change comes when we follow up on our ideas and insights with action\u2026<\/em>To enjoy lasting change we must take immediate action, and establish rituals that will enable the new behavior to take root.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Most people\u00a0mistakenly believe that self-discipline is the key to making new ideas take root.\u00a0 We think, \u2018if only I was more disciplined I would (fill in the blank<\/em>)\u2026.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But that\u2019s not the case.\u00a0\u00a0 As Tony Schwartz<\/a>, author of The Power of Full Engagement <\/a>points out, we can\u2019t rely on self-discipline because we humans have so little of it.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The key is developing rituals so that you do what you intend to without having to summon all the willpower you can muster.\u00a0 \u00a0You do it without having to think about it, like brushing your teeth upon rising or reading a story to your kids every night at bedtime.\u00a0 No pep talks necessary.\u00a0\u00a0 No mental breakthrough required.\u00a0 You just set a time and\u00a0do it.<\/p>\n Developing rituals or taking some kind of immediate action on what you\u2019ve learned is so critical to meaningful change that management guru Peter Drucker <\/a>went so far as to tell every wisdom-seeker who spent time with him:<\/p>\n On Monday, when you go back to the real world, don\u2019t call me and tell me how inspired you were.\u00a0 On Monday, tell me what you\u2019re doing differently.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n New ways of being often pose a threat to our current ways of being.\u00a0 They often challenge what we believe to be true\u2014about ourselves or our organizations.\u00a0 While we don\u2019t like to admit it, we sometimes believe that we\u2019re fundamentally incapable of living in a new way.\u00a0\u00a0 Self-sabotage\u2014I or my company is\u00a0not good enough, strong enough, talented enough (fill-in-the-blank with shortcoming of your choice)<\/em>— is a big wet blanket on efforts to change.<\/p>\n This is where the very wise adage, Fake it till you make it<\/em><\/strong>, comes in to play.\u00a0 Turns out, behavior actually changes beliefs<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u00a0When you fake a smile, \u00a0your brain releases endorphins just the same as if you were actually smiling.\u00a0\u00a0Start walking with a little swagger, soon enough you\u2019ll have swagger.\u00a0 Act like you\u2019re confident speaking on stage, soon enough you\u2019ll actually be confident on stage.\u00a0\u00a0 Social psychologist David Myers <\/a>overturns the commonly held perception that our beliefs drive our behavior by pointing out:<\/p>\n We are as likely to act ourselves into a new way of thinking<\/strong> as to think ourselves into a new way of acting\u2026.rather than limply resign ourselves to our current traits and emotions, we can stretch ourselves, step by step\u2026we can pretend, trusting that before long the pretense will diminish as our actions ignite a spark inside…<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n If we don\u2019t reinforce new ways of thinking with rituals that help us act on our intentions<\/em> and behave in ways that transform how we imagine ourselves to be<\/em>, we\u2019ll slide right back into our comfort zone of old-line thinking.<\/p>\n This holds true for organizations too.\u00a0\u00a0 Great organizations create rituals that enable people to practice the high ideals of the organization; in so doing, their people begin to truly embody the ideals and values.<\/p>\n