Tip 2: The Cycle of Change

The Cycle of Change

The Cycle of Change explains how people change their habits and routines. Prochaska and Di Clemente came up with it when they were doing research with people who wanted to stop smoking.

It has a number of stages. These are pre-contemplation, followed by contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and sometimes relapse.

We can use it to help us create any routine. When we first start it might look like the diagram below. (We go on to explain it in more detail underneath this.)

Using the Cycle of Change to create your new routine

• Pre-contemplation: This is when you’re not even thinking of changing anything. You’re either happy as you are or can’t face changing.
• Contemplation: You’ve started thinking about change. It could be something small or large.
• Preparation: You start making plans.
• Action: Now you’ve made a change and have started your new routine.
• Maintenance: This is when what you wanted to do really becomes a routine for example going for a walk every morning.
• Relapse: This is if you stop your routine and go back to how you were before.

In the diagram all of these are shown as if they make up a circle. They’re a cycle where one goes on to another. Relapse leads back into pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation and action. However, in reality some people may just give up. Others might go straight back into action stage. Sometimes before this it might be useful to go back to contemplation. This way you can think about what went wrong and do something different.

Example of someone who wants to do more exercise

• Pre-contemplation: At first, the person is in the pre-contemplation stage and isn’t thinking about exercise.
• Contemplation stage: Then something makes them think that they need to be more active.
• Preparation: As a result, they start to plan by buying some gym clothes.
• Action: They start going to the gym and lifting weights.
• Maintenance: They continue to go to the gym regularly.
• Relapse: After a while they stop going to the gym. (Perhaps they go back or do some other exercise, perhaps they don’t.)