Why a Spiral Staircase is "ground-breaking"

Certain gurus in pretty much any field will tell you that they have "THE WAY".  This is how change happens.  And, naturally, I'm the only one to have worked it out. I'll give you a few pointers which maybe help you on your way, but you'll find yourself in a marketing funnel for products and services sharing my "secret sauce" with you, which will probably cost you a lot of money and a lot of time. 

The problem with reading is that sooner or later you work out that there really is nothing new under the sun and that all these gurus have merely read the same books as you. Foolproof methods, unique approaches, new solutions, revolutionary programmes and trade-marked course titles are honestly the same old stuff, maybe cleverly packaged, maybe merged with other ideas, published in books or put on shiny websites. Yes, they have the personal tone of the individual concerned that we feel comfortable with, and there's their pratical experience which probably resonates with us, but the tools we're being given to make that journey ourselves are actually very similar to all the others out there. 

One particular approach which is often described as groundbreaking is set out in a book first published in 1994, way before most sober coaches currently touting their coaching or transformation programmes had actually made those changes for themselves, me included. 

Changing for Good is ironically also a victim of the marketing desire to describe the book as "ground-breaking" even though the authors themselves say in the Introduction it's really not!  All(!) they did was bring together a range of academic thinking and reconstruct it in a way that, based on years of research and clinical work with clients, they considered more likely to lead to positive outcomes than earlier approaches. 

They identified six stages to change: 

• Pre-contemplation : put simply, you can't actually see that you have a problem.  You may be in denial, see the problem as being out of your control, and may be demoralised because you feel that your situation is hopeless and that change simply isn't an option. 
  
• Contemplation : you begin to see the problem and think about change, but you're still not ready to do anything about it, maybe continually researching the "best" way to deal with the issue, or waiting for the "best" moment to do something about it.
  
• Preparation : you're ready to take action, and you may have made some small changes already, but even though you might be committed to change, you still have to take the next step.
  
• Action : now you overtly modify your behaviour and everyone around you will notice this stage. Those who support you are likely to be the most encouraging now, especially if the changes offer really visible results, whilst those who don't support you may be the most vocal critics too. 
• Maintenance : this is when you consolidate your gains and work to avoid lapses back into the old way.  This is a potentially long but nonetheless hugely important stage, which the authors say could last anything from six months to a lifetime.
  
• Termination : your problem no longer presents any temptation or threat.  You will never go back to the old way and there is no danger of relapse, but people sometimes find that their issue never gets to this stage, and it may be that they stay in the maintenance stage for a lifetime.

And here is why today's image is of a spiral staircase. Change is rarely linear. Even the authors of this book changed their thinking on this whilst writing their book, based on their research and client studies. These stages are in a cycle, and if something trips you up on the way you may give up because you feel that you're just going around in circles, repeating the same behaviour time after time. But here's the important message:

"... to some extent that is the case, but the good news is that the circles are spiralling upward ... most successful self-changers go through the stages three or four times before they make it to the top and finally exit the cycle ... only 5 per cent made it through the cycle of change without at least one setback ... the vast majority of relapsers do not go all the way back ..."

Each stage is important, no stage can easily be missed out, but a relapse does not send you all the way back to the beginning. This is why my Free 5 Day Orientation Challenge works with you at the Preparation stage, and Free 1-2-1 Mentoring works with you in the Action and Maintenance stages of your journey, to increase your chance of success in your alcohol free journey. 

Follow Red Kites Life on Facebook for details of my next 5 Day Orientation Challenge and 1-2-1 Mentoring services (all totally free and no books, products, supplements on sale either!)