LIFTing Change: Turning Small Actions into Real Wins

Change can fail because it never takes off, or grand promises kick off with a big bang and fizzle out because it becomes impossible to keep up. Enthusiasm fades, routines take over, and progress stalls.

When feedback leads nowhere, we don’t stop speaking up out of fear—we stop out of fatigue. We disengage not because we don’t care, but because we believe our input won’t lead to action. It feels useless.

To turn feedback into fuel for change, it must lead to visible progress. When people see real impact, they stay engaged, motivated, and willing to give and receive feedback to improve themselves and others.

The barriers that make change hard

When it comes to change, we are all a bit resistant—wired for stability, self-interest, and caution. At the same time, we can also swing to the other extreme, setting overly ambitious goals without considering our capacity to sustain them.

🔹 Comfort-Seeking – Change requires effort, and we are wired to conserve energy by avoiding unnecessary risks and maintaining stability.

🔹 Self-Interest – We won’t change unless we see a clear personal benefit.

🔹 Pessimism – We assume the worst and fear failure and loss.

🔹 Over-Ambition – Overcommitting to big, bold changes without considering we have a limited amount of energy and willpower. This leads to a cycle of high expectations, failure, frustration, and ultimately, disengagement.

These instincts are not flaws—they are evolutionary survival mechanisms. Staying in familiar territory once meant safety. Taking unnecessary risks could be deadly. Even today, our brain defaults to conserving energy, even when logic tells us that change is necessary and beneficial. Often, we trick ourselves into believing we are addressing the problem by talking, analyzing, or planning, but no real action happens.

When the outcome of a good feedback conversation is a wish to change, we can override our instincts and perfect our "changeability": Make the change small and easy enough to start and create early wins. A little momentum will give us confidence that more significant steps are possible and sustainable.

How to Overcome Resistance & Make Change Happen

By overriding our natural resistance or delusional ambition, we can create an environment where change has a chance. That’s where the L.I.F.T. Method comes in.

Think of L.I.F.T. as a way to lift change off the ground. Without these steps, change stays stuck or blows up in our face.

L.I.F.T. = Learn, Identify, Fit, Track

✔ L (Learn) → Understand the issue, and the context, before proposing solutions and jumping into grand change plans.

✔ I (Identify) → Translate vague intentions and lofty aspirations into small, high-impact actions.

✔ F (Fit) → Fit the action into your routine (habit stacking).

✔ T (Track) → Reinforce and celebrate success.

This simple four-step system helps us understand change, take action, sustain momentum, and build lasting habits.

🚀 Step 1: LEARN → Develop Situational Awareness Before Jumping into Solutions

Change starts with awareness. If we don’t understand why change is needed, we won’t make an effort. The problem is that most people don’t feel safe enough to reflect, understand, and commit.

How to Develop Situational Awareness Before Acting:

✅ Clarify the real issue(s) → What’s the root cause, not just the symptom?

✅ Identify why it matters → How does it impact you, your team, or your organization?

✅ Understand different perspectives → Who else is involved, and how do they see the situation?

💡 Example: Instead of saying, “You need to be on time or else,” consider:

✔ “When meetings start late, we lose momentum and waste time catching up. Let’s figure out what’s making it difficult to be on time and how we can adjust so it works for everyone.”

🚀 Step 2: IDENTIFY → Find Small, High-Impact Actions

Once people understand the need for change, action must be easy and realistic. If a change feels too big and overwhelming, we will procrastinate or get ourselves into overly ambitious promises we can never keep to ourselves and others.

How to Reduce Overwhelm:

✅ Break the change into tiny steps → Go for small, easy wins.

✅ Use guided discovery → Give people options within the change to increase ownership.

✅ Make the first step effortless → The simpler, the better.

💡 Example: Experts say that a heart attack would be one of the strongest motivators for a lifestyle change. Yet a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association* found that one out of four men makes no lifestyle changes after a cardiac event. Probably, the change felt too overwhelming.

Instead of telling someone to “live healthier,” try:

✔ “Start by adding one vegetable to your dinner.”

✔ “Swap soda for water once a day.”

✔ "Walk for 10 minutes"

🚀 Step 3: FIT → Fit the new action into your routine (Habit Stacking)

Even if a change starts well, old habits can pull us back. Our brain defaults to the path of least resistance, so we need to make change easy and automatic.

How to Anchor New Habits:

✅ Use WHEN-THEN Habit Stacking:

✔ “WHEN I pour my coffee, THEN I will drink a glass of water.”

✔ “WHEN I finish a meeting, THEN I will write down one insight.”

✅ Reduce friction → Make the desired habit easy and obvious.

✅ Use external triggers → Checklists, reminders, shared commitments.

💡 Example: Want to start exercising? Don’t commit to a full workout. Start with:

✔ “Lay out workout clothes next to your bed.”

✔ “Do one push-up before showering.”

🚀 Step 4: TRACK → Reinforce and Celebrate Progress

The final piece? Reinforcement. If we don’t measure progress, we lose motivation. If we (or others in the form of positive feedback) don’t celebrate success, habits fade.

How to Make Change Stick:

✅ Track small wins → Use a simple checklist, a team whiteboard.

✅ Celebrate progress (not perfection) → Small victories create long-term habits. Fit celebration moments into regular meetings

✅ Expand the change once it’s solid → After one habit sticks, build on it.

💡 Example: Instead of waiting to celebrate a big result, acknowledge small wins:

✔ “I exercised 3 days this week—better than last!”

✔ “I sent feedback to two people today—small step, big impact.”

✔ "Thanks for being on time for our team meetings this week, this made a very positive difference for the team!"

Final thoughts: changeability fuels feedback

Change isn’t about grand gestures, it's about small, consistent actions that turn feedback into momentum. When people see their input, it leads to visible progress, and they stay engaged, motivated, and willing to push forward.

The L.I.F.T. Method ensures feedback isn’t just heard—it drives action. By making change manageable, rewarding, and lasting, it builds trust in the process and the people involved.

The key?

Close the loop on feedback. Start small and lift change off the ground, one step at a time.

Source*: https://www.mentalhealth.com/library/lifestyle-changes-after-heart-attack-or-stroke-in-short-supply