Who Says You Can't Herd Cats?

In the evening, I like to sit out in my backyard and read for awhile. I generally take two of my cats, Boo and Scout, with me. All is well (they love being outside!), right up until the time when it’s time for us to go in for the evening. I have to round them up. Typically this involves me chasing them or crawling around in the planting beds. Once I catch them, they growl and hiss and, in general, let me know that they are not pleased with me.

Tonight, however, was different. It was a long day and I didn’t feel like participating in the usual evening spectacle. I went upstairs, grabbed the little bag of cat treats and shook the bag from the top of the stairs. Both cats came running at top speed and gave no argument about coming in. Why didn’t I think of this before?

The cats reminded me of a few important steps to affecting change:

1. Decide that you will no longer participate in the spectacle.

2. Decipher and understand the competing motivations of others. This isn’t quite as simple as "What does the other person want?" The cats wanted to stay outside! Their competing motivation was that they also wanted the treats. Tonight they wanted the treat more than they wanted to stay where they were.

3. A key to getting people to change is to get them to want something new more than they want to stay where they are. My mother was a hard-core smoker for 50 years. Last June, her doctors told her that she had a choice: she could continue to smoke. If she chose that she would be dead within a few months and most of that time, she would spend in the hospital. Or, she could quit smoking, have more time with her family, and spend most of that time at home. She quit that day.

Certainly, these are not all the steps of change, but, most likely, change won’t happen without these three. As for the cats, well, as Scarlett always said, "Tomorrow is another day" and I’m sure they are busy plotting their revenge.