5-minute Self-Assessment for Change

This exercise helps you reflect about changing yourself as a way to understanding yourself. Self-understanding helps us become more effective motivational practitioners with youth.

Put a check mark next to the items that YOU WANT to change in YOUR life—not what you SHOULD do; not what someone else WANTS you to do; not what you would LIKE to do; not what you or someone else DREAMS about doing, but what YOU WANT TO DO.

Then, for those items that you’ve checked, assess your motivation to change using the following scale:

1=I’m not thinking about change in the next few years

5=I am thinking about change in the next 3 months

10=Am ready to change right now, or am already changing

Then, for those items that you’ve checked, assess your confidence in your ability to change:

1=I do not believe that I will ever be able to change

5=I may be able to change, but an not sure

10=I believe that I will be able to change

For example, if I smoke cigarettes and recently saw TV anti-smoking ads from the NYS DOH, and want to stop smoking before my daughter graduate from high school in June, but I’ve tried to quit smoking 5 times in the past and I always go back to it when I get stressed at work; but I am ok with my eating habits and don’t see any reason to change them, my answer might look like:

MY Health Behaviors and Life Issues / Motivation to Change
1 5 10 / Confidence in ability to change
1 5 10
Tobacco use √ / 6 / 3
Eating habits
Your Health Behaviors and Life Issues (√ items YOU WANT to change) / Motivation to Change
1 5 10 / Confidence in ability to change
1 5 10
Tobacco use
Eating habits
Weight
Physical activity
Alcohol use
Safe sex practices
Contraception
Taking prescribed drugs as directed
Social relationships
Job satisfaction
Financial situation
Work/family/social balance
Professional/personal burnout
Coping with stress
Spiritual health

For those that you checked wanting to change, and your motivation is pretty good, but your confidence is low: How long have you been thinking about change? What’s holding you back? What is keeping you from making change?

For those that you checked wanting to change, and your motivation is low, but confidence high, ask yourself those same questions.

Now think about a time when a young person did not follow your advice to change something in his/her life. Do you have a different perspective on why he/she might not have been able to follow through with your advice?