Rules for Responsible Growth
1. Become aware of yourself. Ultimately this includes not just being aware of your physical, and mental self, but also your emotions as well even of your unconscious drives and motivations. Ask yourself these questions, where am I going? Is it getting me what I want? If not, what is it getting it?
2. Take responsibility for your situation: This means that you must be willing to accept responsibility for the results of your behavior. In other words, if you are not getting what you want, it is probably your fault and only through your action (i.e., by experimenting with different behaviors) are you to bring about different results.
3. Choose among the alternatives. What general things do you really want to work on? What qualities do you want to manifest in your life? What specific behaviors do you want to try out?
4. Look at the possible alternatives. What other choices of behavior are open to you? What tentative models are more consistent with your values? What are the likely consequences of being more like this or that, of trying on certain new behavior? What is the best thing that could happen? What is the worst thing that could happen?
5. Affirm your decision. Using the power of fantasy and belief, imagine yourself manifesting this new behavior in a variety of situations.
6. Develop a plan of action. Map out in detail the specific steps of your plan in the order that you will need them.
Use the items listed in your goals worksheet to help you in developing your plan of action. Be very diligent in developing this plan and even more so in sticking to it. It may be difficult at first, but if you persevere, it will pay off.
7. Act Now! At some point, you must actually take the risk of “trying on” the new behavior.
8. Evaluate the outcome. Evaluate the results of your attempts. What happened? How did you feel? Were the results worth it? If you are willing to add this new behavior or attitude to your repertoire, you have become expanded, you have choices. You have grown.