Analysis Friend and Individual

Individual and Friend Summary Analysis

The ‘dark philosopher’ Heraclitus aligns the importance of life to change. The philosopher argues that in the world, there is nothing permanent. The philosopher further retorts that “the essence of life is change” (Shaw, 2019). Despite Heraclitus arguing that change is paramount and is part of a human being’s life, he never enlightened people on the challenges that they may go through as they aspire to find change.

According to Gesme & Wiseman (2010), there are various essential underpinnings to change including having a shared vision with your colleagues. JBY and I had the same vision to change our body weight and improve our health status through workout. Despite how difficult it seemed at first, I had to come up with an easier way to carry out our activities. JBY and I used the SMART goal model to help improve on cardio and increase weight training at the gym (SMART goals. 2021). The reason we employed the SMART goal model is because it would enable us to set achievable goals. Our very first goal was to decrease the time it took us to cover a distance of one mile. The second goal was to increase the weights we lifted at the bench press by about 20%. The other underpinning discussed by Gesme & Wiseman (2010) is creating a readiness to change. JBY and I made it clear that we needed changes in our health and came up with a simple structure and timetable to assist us. We Fostered reinforcement for our change desire by coming up with a table record that showed our schedule (Harris, 2012). The record would show the activities we engaged in to bring change to ourselves.

Caluwé & Vermaak (2016) came up with a model of color thinking and argued that change is not simple, rather it takes up different shades. The scholars came up with the idea to enable individuals to differentiate the different ideologies about change. Each of the colors in the color model are required to represent different beliefs. Despite using the color model, it was very clear that our changes never occurred linearly. First, for JBY, who suffered COVID-19, instead of her weight decreasing in the course of our physical fitness activity, it actually increased and at the end of the project she had 180 pounds from 172.5 pounds. JBY began with a 3-mile run to a 4-mile run and to a 5-mile run. However, in the 1st week of August, she became fatigued and had to reduce the distance she covered to about a 0.5 mile walk and then to jogging over shorter distances. On the other hand, I was being weighed down by my chemotherapy treatment and could not go for longer distances. Despite my willingness to improve on my physical fitness, I had to take it slow. I would work out with dumbbells and go for shorter distances.

Our current health conditions were our major obstacles because they weighed us down. However, we were still focused on completing our challenge. The color model did not however appear real to us in our project because of the found nonlinear relationship. Using the SMART goal model, our goals appeared more realistic and easier (Les MacLeod EdD, 2012). While using the color model, one of the approaches that worked was the white print thinking. This is because the white print viewed change as a constant process (Dinesh, 2018). Despite JBY and I not being able to achieve what we wished accurately, the white print still made us believe that it was not yet over. The white print approach also made us understand that change is quite unpredictable and it may not be possible for an individual to experience a 100% transition from their current condition instantly (Five colors of transformation, 2012). Even after the challenge, we would still continue with our physical fitness and weight lifting exercises. The green print however worked for us up to a certain extent because it tested our limits. Our limits were established when we were midway through the entire challenge. Midway, JBY and I had to reduce the distance that we ran because we were getting weighed down by of our underlying conditions. I would therefore admit that the white and green print model were very effective and worked as success instruments for our change process.

JBY and I did not meet our desired changes but we learned a few things about change. We learned about new resources including the color model by Caluwé & Vermaak - including the white and green print approach. Despite our adversities, my friend and I have been able to readjust our health and make a beneficial step in our lives.

My friend JBY never achieved her goal despite the efforts made. On the other hand, on my side, I faced challenges being consistent with my exercise. In the future, I would prefer using a longer period for analysis. Our change process was designated for only a month. Change is not simple and the color model has made this clear. Change is complex and requires readjusting every single day. Weight loss and physical fitness may require one year for there to be recognizable change. The advantage of our model was that there was no room for cheating - every figure in the track record was accurate and was not manipulated. I still feel that we did not make use of the SMART goals model as required. Despite our goal being specific, measurable, attainable and time bound, I feel that it was not realistic. Weight is not lost within a short period of time. As a matter of fact, it would be absurd to even imagine that what took decades to pile on could be lost within a few weeks or months. Further, when setting out to shed some weight, the relevance of taking into account your current health status cannot be overstated.

During our challenge, JBY and I became worn out and therefore could not complete the process as we had planned. I feel that chemotherapy made me lose weight quicker because I was mostly weak. Despite taking part in the challenge to gain physical fitness, chemotherapy became a major challenge for me. It made me fatigued and I could not walk for longer miles on the treadmill. On the other hand, JBY who had COVID, was also fatigued but in her case, she gained weight. JBY was unable to exercise on her bench from 1st to 8th of August. This means that she was consistent and could not meet the set goal. To assess our change process, JBY and I tracked ourselves using an excel document and were able to adjust the process by inputting our ups and downs including reasons of fatigue and impact of our underlying health conditions.

The process of achieving or goals was entangled between change theories, including the SMART goal model and the color model. The two theories came in handy. I am of the opinion that JBY and I have experienced change despite our health challenges. Our challenge was to take place in a month and we evaluated ourselves using the excel document. As we started the challenge, we relied on the insight of the great philosopher Heraclitus who believed that change was an essential component of life. The philosopher also argued that” the essence of life was change” (Shaw, 2019). My friend and I began our journey believing that we would change our lives by engaging in various activities to improve our health. Initially, I had 167.3 pounds but I lost 29.1 pounds. My major exercise was running and cardio and I ensured consistency despite getting fatigued.

Compared to JBY, when using the color model, my progress showed a linear relationship. This means that the red and blue print worked for me, but could not work for JBY because her progress was nonlinear. The red print model represented motivation and how it impacts change. Blue print on the other hand represented the implementation of change. JBY on the other had was not consistent on change because she was weighed down by COVID 19 and ran shorter distances. At the beginning of the change challenge, she had 172.5 pounds and later on, after the challenge, she weighed 180 pounds. JBY gained 7.5 pounds. From the excel document, it can be noted that JBY did her walks and runs. However, in the first week of August, she did not engage in bench press and this may be the reason her weight increased since she did not burn fat. The white print approach works for JBY because the model represents the need for consistency. The white print model argues that the path for change is unpredictable and uncontrollable and this is the case for JBY (Hyslop, 2014). She could not control getting fatigued despite her need and zeal for change.