The Progress of Change

Did you know that change is a progression? You cannot and will not change overnight. Change is inevitable, we all know that. Life is about change. Can you imagine if we never evolved? Never hit puberty, got married, had kids, retired? Life would be boring without change. Think of how many changes you go through in a day. I've never thought about it before but we actually change many times during a typical day. We get out of bed in a certain mood and fluctuate all day long. We feel determined at the gym, lazy watching TV, empowered as we accomplish tasks and even angry when some idiot cuts us off on the road.

Some people resist change. You know, the guy who eats the same thing every day for lunch or the gal who takes the same route to drop the kids off in the morning. Some might believe that to change certain things is impossible. Think about what the word impossible really means. If you started on an impossible task, a suicide mission if you will, what really happens? With work, that which is impossible just becomes hard. What is hard eventually becomes easy. What is easy becomes success.

There are four phases of change. The first phase is ‘Unconsciously Incompetent.' Bill is unconsciously incompetent, which means that he doesn't know what he doesn't know. For example, Bill doesn't know that you should water your plants early in the morning or late in the day so that the sun does not evaporate the water. He just stands in his yard at 2 o'clock every afternoon, watering his grass, and he wonders why his grass is turning brown.

The second phase is ‘Consciously Incompetent.' When John tells Bill that his grass is turning brown because the water is not seeping into the ground before it's gone, now Bill knows why his lawn is dying. He is conscious about it but his schedule as it stands will not allow him to water early in the morning or late in the day, which makes him incompetent to do what needs to be done.

The third phase is ‘Consciously Competent.' Bill rearranges his schedule so that he can water at 7 o'clock everyday. He must now make a conscious effort to competently water his lawn at the desired hour so it will be green and growing again. He might miss a few days because this is the stage in which habits are formed. I've said before that it takes on average 21 days to create or destroy a habit. He has to destroy his 2 o'clock watering habit and change it to the 7 o'clock watering habit. This stage takes the longest and requires the most effort.

The fourth stage is ‘Unconsciously Competent.' When Bill finally reaches this stage, it's like the change never occurred. When 7 o'clock rolls around if he's not in the yard watering his grass, something feels off to him. When you can get to this stage of your change cycle the change is complete and this is where success finds you.

Something else I want to touch on is the gap between the unconsciously incompetent and the unconsciously competent. When you are in your success stage you are going to run into those who just don't get it, especially in network marketing. So Tom, who doesn't know what he doesn't know, will judge Amy who knows what Tom doesn't know. Let me give you two examples, one related to network marketing and one that's not. Amy is driving down the road just minding her own business. She is a very good driver with a clean record. All of a sudden Tom comes out of nowhere and cuts her off so he doesn't miss his exit. Tom didn't know his exit was coming (unconsciously incompetent) but Amy lays into him anyway, using every profane word she knows. She knew that exit was there (unconsciously competent) and now claims that Tom is an idiot. Amy judged Tom.

In network marketing, Amy has plans to be a superstar. She is just starting out and decides that she wants to tell Tom about her company. She goes to Tom and shows him all about it. When she's done, Tom leans back in his chair and says, "Amy, I can't believe that you've got yourself into one of them there pyramid schemes!"

Next time you run into a Tom, don't judge him for his lack of knowledge, just smile and nod and know that one day, when you are a multi-millionaire, he might get it.

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