Two Ingredients to Lasting Change

Many people come into the gym looking for a change in their lives. There are 2 major ingredients that will determine the success and depth of that change; your circle of association, and questioning what you believe to be true. 

First though, some thoughts on how we arrived at knowing these ingredients by way of learning more about social constructionism. 

Social Constructionism- the idea that people construct their own identity and the identities of others through repeated social interactions. 

Here’s how it happens.

We have a thought about the outside world, we externalize this thought by sharing it. Eventually, others read or hear about it and it becomes conventional wisdom in their minds and they then internalize it. Often these “facts” are then passed down and become fossilized as fact because the idea existed in the world that future generations were born into. This can cause people to see the world as pre-defined, fixed, or that they have an unchangeable fate. 

These ideas that have been created by way of interacting with others, our environments, our economic conditions, politics, etc can be a driving force behind our behaviors. 

For example; do you hear statements like, “It runs in our family!”. “I have always done it that way!”, “We have done it like this forever and we’re still here!” 

Going back to the first ingredient, your circle of association; who you spend lots of time with. 

Who is in your immediate network of people that you associate with (can be people you adore or even don’t like being around!)? What behaviors are acceptable to them? Which ones aren’t? What is a behavior they may not recognize? Are any of the behaviors for the change you are trying, make the people closest to you uncomfortable?

The second ingredient is challenging the beliefs you may have been handed down unknowingly. Are there any new behaviors you are trying to form that goes against what you have been told is conventional wisdom? 

I will continue to write about behaviors and the components that it takes to create a lasting change.