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TOOL: STOP AND START

When you want to do something different in your life, it can feel like an uphill struggle. You might come across these obstacles:

  • How do you add something new into an already busy schedule?
  • What if you start off with the best of intentions but lose steam?

You can avoid these pitfalls with a simple tool called stop and start (often called start, stop, continue – but I switched the order as I found it more helpful this way!). I originally learned this tool in the Right Brain Business Plan group membership programme, many years ago. It was hosted by Jennifer Lee. You can find out more about Right Brain Business Plan here.

All you need is a paper and pen, and these simple prompts.

USE THIS TOOL WHEN:

  • You need to reflect on your recent experiences and decide what to change as you move forwards
  • You want a really simple reflection technique that you can use quickly
  • You want to use a tool to give you momentum and energy, that helps you take action straight away

HOW IT WORKS:

  • Use a series of reflective prompts under the headings ‘continue, start, stop’.
  • Draw on your recent experiences, reviewing how they are going, using the ‘stop’ and ‘continue’ prompts.
  • Identify improvements you can implement using the ‘start’ prompts.
  • Being specific means that each item on the list results in behavioural change. Be as specific as you can.

How to do it:

Follow this series of prompts, write down your answers, and then look at everything together to decide your next steps.

1 – CONTINUE.

We’re going to start with continue. What in your world is ‘to be continued?’ We start here because there are bound to be things that you’re doing that you want to keep doing. These are usually quite easy to spot. They’re an easy ‘yes’.

Drawing of a person holding a placard that reads, "Continue"

These are the things that you want to keep making space for, and make sure that you don’t lose them as you start to change things.

These are things that are working for you, and that you want to keep doing. Not things that you feel obliged to keep doing. Things that you actively want to continue.

Answer these questions to help you identify the things that you’re doing at the moment that are contributing to your happiness and wellbeing:

  • What have you been doing lately that has brought you joy, happiness, wellbeing, contentment?
  • What brings you energy? What fills your cup and makes you come alive?
  • What has been making you feel fully aligned with your values? So much that you would love to feel that more?
  • Who have you been spending time with that made you feel truly, uniquely you? That you had fun with? Felt accepted by, and also felt the possibility of growth?
  • What has been working well for you? What has been getting you the outcomes you really want, helping you learn, helping you play your best game and be in your groove?

Take a look at all your answers to these questions and be honest with yourself. Now write your ‘to be continued’ list: What are you going to continue doing?

2 – START.

Now we’re going to turn to what you want to start doing. The things you’d love to add in the mix but haven’t felt able to make space or time for (yet).

Drawing of a person holding a placard that reads, "Start". In the background behind the person there are lots of lightbulbs lit up

These might be activities that are strongly aligned with your values, activities that you used to really enjoy and want to get back to, or activities that you want to try.

Answer these questions to help you identify the things that you want to begin doing, that will have a positive impact on you:

  • What have you always wanted to do, that you would love to try, and that you feel excited about?
  • What would you like to do more of that you used to really enjoy? That brought you energy and joy and worked well for you? That you want to bring back into your life?
  • Who would you love to spend time with? Who lights your spark and helps you feel truly, uniquely you? Who brings you fun and joy and accepts you and helps you grow?
  • What do you need to invite in – feelings, activities, opportunities?
  • What do you need more of?
  • What do you *want* more of?
  • If money wasn’t a factor, what would you spend time on (that you aren’t currently)?

Take a look at all your answers to these questions and be honest with yourself. Write your ‘start’ list: What are you going to start doing?

3 – STOP.

Now that you’ve explored what you want to keep doing, and what you want to start doing, you’re in a helpful place to work out what you’re going to stop doing.

Drawing of a person holding a placard that reads, "Stop"

Answer these questions to help you identify the things that you’re doing that aren’t efficient, waste your time or resources, or have a negative impact on how you feel:

  • What have you been doing that you don’t enjoy? Even if you used to really enjoy it?
  • What do you need to clear out? To give away?
  • What have you been doing that is no longer helping you?
  • What has come to an end? How can you honour those endings?
  • What are you continuing to do out of obligation or duty? Who can you raise this with to see if there’s a way to free yourself? (Note: maybe the only person you need to talk to is yourself?)
  • What do you need less of?
  • What do you *want* less of?
  • What do you want to move on from?
  • What do you enjoy, but you actually need to let go of?

Take a look at all your answers to these questions and be honest with yourself. Write your ‘stop’ list: What are you going to stop doing? Focus on those things that really need to stop, to make more space for what you do want, for what brings you joy?

RECAP AND decide.

Take a look at all of your answers to all the previous questions and be honest with yourself: what is going to change?

TURN YOUR ANSWERS INTO AN ACTION PLAN

The insights you’ve gained from this reflection will affect your thinking and approach to future tasks. But we really need an action plan to make sure we turn what we’ve learned into real change.

  • Put your answers up somewhere you can see them every day
  • Pick one thing from your ‘Start’ list and start doing it this month
  • Reward yourself with a tiny favourite thing every time you do this thing
  • Pick one thing from your ‘Stop’ list and make a small donation to a cause you don’t support every time you do this thing

Get support

If you’d like accountability to make the changes you’ve identified, let’s work together! Join the Design for Life programme to use a whole host of creative tools to get insights and act on them, tailor-made for where you are right now and the changes you want to make.