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F is for ‘Force’

12:16:00 pm


Today’s letter for the AtoZ Blogging Challenge is ‘F’ for my theme ‘A to Z of Effectiveness’. You can read more about my theme here. I’m also participating in the NaBloPoMo for April.

Source
In the book, ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, Stephen Covey talks about Kurt Lewin’s ‘Force Field Analysis’, where one’s current state of being is a balance between driving forces that encourage growth and restraining forces that discourage it.

It’s okay to be intimidated by the very physics-text like definition; I was too! But when you think about it, it is actually very true. For anything you want to achieve, there are bound to be driving forces in your current environment that are ‘positive, reasonable, logical’, and restraining forces that are ‘negative, emotional, illogical’. Both of these can influence your mind and performance and have to be dealt with correctly.

Every situation in our life is bound to have both forces at play. Say I want to lose excess weight and get fitter. A driving force for this may be that I have a fitness-freak friend who’s ready to come jogging with me. A restraining force may be my junk-foodie family, who keeps stocking the pantry with high calorie foods. You see, both forces oppose each other, and even though the driving force is present, the restraining force will always be an obstacle to moving forward.

The only way out of this is obviously, to first accept the kind of forces and then, to take steps to decrease those restraining forces. Of course, this is easier said than done, especially when it’s about other people! But like we talked about here, you can focus on the changes in your attitude and invoke the discipline that is necessary to get you to your goal. Now, off to restock that pantry!!


Is there a situation in your life right now where restraining forces are opposing any driving force and keeping you from reaching your goal?

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2 comments

  1. I love the concept of the force field analysis and have often used it in my sessions!

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    Replies
    1. Me too! Obstacles somehow seem more likely to be overcome when thought in terms of restraining forces :)

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