“I suppose it’s easier to see the way out of anything when you’ve found your way out of that maze. When you’re stuck in the middle, in a series of dead-ends making circles, it’s difficult to make any sense of anything” - Cecelia Ahern

Sometimes the most difficult place to be is the middle of a transition - you’ve already started but haven’t yet finished.

This October month, I’m focusing on REVAMPS and I previously shared ideas on the case for a revamp. In this one, the focus is on helping us stay on the revamp road once we’ve decided to go on the journey.

One of the major difficulties of transition involves the additional effort and attention needed to hold the new and old together - it’s thinking, it’s action, it’s time, it’s money. Everything seems to double. For example, in the revamp of my LiveHolystic business infrastructure over the course of a few months I was needing to hold two worlds in my mind, the old and the new to come. It was taxing. It was draining. It was often disheartening. I needed to say to people “wait for the new website” while also saying “the current website isn’t really explaining what I do”. FYI I’m simply using my website revamp as an example and I’m sure you can replace “website” with your own example that may or may not be more complicated .

And when we find ourselves immersed in the difficulty, we can be pulled in a couple of directions:

1. We consider pulling out and going back to tolerating the status quo or

2. We rush to get to the end and find ourselves skipping steps or reducing the scope of where we actually wanted to be.

Neither is ideal.

3 Ways To Stay On The Revamp Road

And to work through the difficulty of the transition middle, I’d like to offer a few things that helped myself and others I work with stay on the “revamp track”.

1) Share your commitment. Communicating your commitment (in this case a revamp) to others has been shown to increase the chances of completion. It doesn’t have to be a major public announcement on social media (for some people that feels like too much work and a project in itself!). From my experience with significant revamps like addiction recovery, being able to share with a few people who care enough to ask you the questions to keep you on track are more effective than 100 people who don’t have the care or capacity to check in with you.  

2) Commit money upfront to keep your commitment. Money has a way of drawing out our commitment like nothing else. It’s the reason I tend to pay upfront when it's to do with personal and professional growth such as coaching and counselling and why I ask the same of clients. By the way, I’m not suggesting you simply throw your money around without putting some thought into it! Assuming you’ve done your necessary research to get to a place of conviction on your revamp decision, committing money simply helps you and I keep our commitment especially through the temptations to pull out or compromise.

3) Remind yourself of the possibilities. Pain is definitely a big driver of change and can sometimes feel like the biggest voice in the decisions we make. I found I need to strike a balance with listening to the pain but also being reminded of the possibilities. The hope. In the midst of my website revamp difficulties, I kept re-reading a note I wrote at the start of the journey which reminded me of why I was making the investment in the change and the new opportunities it would open up. Looking back, this was needed alongside my money commitment and sharing my commitment with others to stay on track.

Over To You

If you missed it, I’m calling this month “Revamp October” as a reminder of the importance of a revamp. I invite you to join in and play. That simply means to explore a revamp decision for yourself in the month of October. That could be connected to your business/work, your core habits, relationships, parenting patterns, goals, success metrics or something else.

Here’s a few reflection questions to get you going. 

Self Reflection

1. What has resonated with you? 

2. What is a revamp you are wanting to commit to? 

3. What helps you stay on track when you’ve made a commitment to follow through with something?

Respond

I've love to hear what's on your mind, whether a thought or a question. I read all emails and will respond as appropriate. Message me james@liveholystic.com

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Let’s live whole,

James

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