A few years back at MPI’s WEC education event, I was given a book called Change Anything, The New Science of Personal Success by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. After unpacking all of the fun items, books, and takeaways that I received, it took me a while to have the opportunity to dive into this book, and I’m glad I did. If you want to learn more about the science behind change, this is the book for you. This book revolved around 6 key areas to implement personal change.

1. Motivate Yourself – Motivate yourself by distancing yourself from what you need to steer clear of. Also, reward yourself for making the step in the right direction
2. Adapt – If you lack the skill or ability to change, find a way how to acquire it. (If you can’t run, learn to run. If you are a bad public speaker, start finding places to speak.)
3. Social Motivation – Everyone needs a cheerleading section, get your friends and family to be with you on your cause.
4. Support Group – Get a new group of people that can surround you this “new” thing that you are doing.
5. Remove Distractions – If there are elements in your surroundings that distract you or tempt you to return to your ‘old self’ – remove them.
6. Structure Change – If there are things that need to be altered structurally around you – change them so that the environment supports what you do.

When I read a book, I not only try to apply it to my personal life, but also my professional one. This book showed that if we want to change how people meet, we have to motivate them, provide support and consistently surround them in an environment in which shows off how engaging meetings can be. If you want an intriguing read on change, I recommend reading this book.

Have you ever had to use one of these tools to get your situation to change? We would like to hear about it more in the comments below!

Photo credit: Change? by Arthur John Picton via Flickr