The purpose of this assignment is to plan and practice a personal change to support your efforts to lead change in yourself and others successfully. You will implement and experience the Personal Change Challenge using the concepts presented in the Influencer text and the Blind and Outnumbered Video on YouTube. The final deliverables will include your completed Personal Change Challenge worksheet (form provided below) and a 2-3 page reflection paper in MS Word format. 

Objectives:

 Participants will:

1. 1. 1. 1. Create a plan for implementing successful personal change.
         2. Identify strategies that assist with personal change success.
         3. Track change behaviors.
         4. Plan for future change in this area.

Introduction:

The authors of Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success examined the behavior of over 5,000 people to determine the struggles associated with personal change and the strategies to help overcome them. The authors would continue to expand on their research and incorporate what they learned into Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change as a practical guide for leading change in ourselves and others. 

From your Influencer reading assignment, you learned about six sources of influence that affect our daily decisions and strategies we can use to leverage these sources in our favor. The six sources of influence from the reading are personal motivation, personal ability, social motivation, social ability, structural motivation, and structural ability. 

Unfortunately, we are often blind to the influences that keep us from achieving successful outcomes in our daily lives. The fact that we only focus on one or two strategies for success at a time leaves us with diminished chances for positive results. Engage in this personal change challenge to practice utilizing all six strategies on some personal goal you’d like to achieve. After completing the challenge, you will be better positioned to lead yourself and others to successful change through the six sources of influence. 

View the Blind and Outnumbered video here or on YouTube for a fun overview of how the six sources of influence can work for or against you.

Blind and Outnumbered (Links to an external site.) on YouTube.

Instructions:

Methodology:

1. 1. 1. 1. Determine a habit you would like to change.
         2. Download the “Personal Change Challenge” form and create a change plan using the six strategies from the Influencer text and Blind and Outnumbered Video.
         3. Track your behaviors using the Calendar on the form. Ask yourself at the end of each day, “Did I work towards the change today?” If yes, place a check in the box.
         4. At the end of the course, analyze your experience.
         5. Complete the change challenge form.

Deliverables:

• • • • Minimum 2-page/Maximum 3-page personal change challenge reflection (double-spaced in Times New Roman 12-point font with one-inch margins). The paper will be in MS-Word. Include a title page (put your name and a title for your change challenge on this page), page numbers, and a references page with citations in the narrative. Use APA 7th Edition (Links to an external site.) formatting. Have at least three scholarly or professional references with citations in your paper, including the Influencer text. There must be at least one citation for every reference and one reference for every citation. The title page and references page do not count towards the minimum and maximum page limits. Use transitions, headings, and sub-headings to keep your paper organized. Be sure to review the written assignment rubric
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      • Sample questions to guide the development of your reflection narrative:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. What change challenge did you undertake?
            2. What did you do differently in this change challenge from previous change efforts?
            3. What were the outcomes?
            4. How did this activity make you feel?
            5. What do you plan to continue to do to make the change stick?
            6. What could you do differently to be more successful next time?
            7. How could you use the six sources of influence strategies to help lead a group to change in an organization? (be sure to answer this question)

• • • • Include your completed Personal Change Challenge Worksheet with your submission.

Download the Worksheet here: Personal Change Challenge Worksheet

 (Fillable form in MS Word format)

Resources:

• • • • The Influencer Change Framework–The Power to Change Anything by J.D. Meier (Links to an external site.).
      • The Six Sources of Influence Model — A Powerful Model for Change by J.D. Meier (Links to an external site.).