Part of the art of working with people and motivating them, or even better, stimulating their own motivation toward a change or changes in health behaviour/s is breaking down apparent barriers and resistance to change. We are all self-conditioned to envelop ourselves in our own silos of belief and customary behaviour. Miller and Rollnick refer to this predisposition toward our own status quo as ambivalence. Recently, a friend shared his observation in his clinic of a t-shirt worn by a child with Down syndrome. The emblazoned shirt-saying read, ‘Be Calm…It’s Only an Extra Chromosome.’ It struck me that such a truth, so simply stated is no different in its impact on those of us who see this than it is for us to explode our silos of belief or ‘normal’ ways of behaving. There is a wonderful program, set of books, process, and concept called The Bigger Game. Its founder, Rick Tamlyn, uses a tic-tac-toe grid to help people who want to move away from their Comfort Zone in a ‘hunger’ for something more compelling – a bigger game – in their lives. So too do we in healthcare envision and seek bigger health games in our clients’ lives. We encourage you to be bold in working with your clients and find ways to break down their silos of the-way-it-is and instead to reach for the limitless possibilities of the change they might want to be in their worlds. As one of our colleagues states so poignantly, the best way to predict the future is to create it. Sometimes, that means starting with exploding our own silos of belief and behaviour as health care professionals.
