Starting a new project, shifting into a new position, and deciding on a new job are all changes we are initiating ourselves.

One may think, that when it is up to us to lead the change, things will be more under our control than when change occurs to us. However, this is only partially true.

Initiating change and moving through change happens in cycles during which a project is imagined, explored, thought about, identified with, brought to success, and ended before fueling other projects. In all of these steps, there is a common way to sabotage the change process. It’s the inability to find a rhythm that sustains the change.

Some of the stages in the change process generate a lot of energy, one that leads to the impression of being all engaged and maybe all-powerful. It can easily lead to a desire to speed up as if one had to grow up fast. It results for example from the anxiety to approach tasks one has not yet fully mastered or from the sense that the ideas one has in mind are already well settled.

Other stages of the change process may lead to less enthusiasm and can be more challenging. In these, the speed possible is underestimated and people take an approach to slow down as if they wouldn’t be allowed to grow up.

Speeding up or slowing down comes with limiting beliefs, that is permissions not yet given or found. The level of energy one experiences is a great indicator of motivation, however, it might not always be showing the correct direction.