I recently shared this topic with clients on a coaching call. They’re working towards having more of what they want in life, love and business and I wanted to teach them was how to have lasting positive change, and what’s need for that.

There are two things worth noting in the diagram below:

• Changing something in the upper level (identity and belief) will change things on a lower level; and changing something on a lower level (behavior, capability, environment) can affect the upper levels but it’s usually a top-down effect.

• If behavior is not directed towards a specific outcome, there’s little effort towards what you want
  
  
  

Why does this matter?

Often, when working towards making change in your life, the emphasis is on behavior, capability and environment which is fine. But, if there’s no attention on belief and identity, this is where set-back, struggle, the need for constant willpower and repeating negative patterns can and will show up.

That can be quite frustrating, tiresome and boring if you’re wanting to make good progress in life.

A more effective or efficient way to go about having the things you want (with less struggle) is to have assistance and focus on the top two level of change – identity and belief – which can create a more effortless or graceful experience of change.

It’s what I like to call the top-down effect.

The results of this are pretty profound — less struggle, more energy, more focus, an easier time sticking to things you say you’re going to do exercise more, drink less, save more money, acting nicer, following-through more, etc.) so on and so forth.

The 5 levels of change are profound and not often considered in personal development, unless you’re hanging out around this water cooler. 🙂

Ashley Paquin
November 13, 2022