Motivational Tip: 1-10 Scale
Hi, I'm Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach.
How are those New Year’s resolutions? Are they going well? Or maybe you haven’t quite started yet?
Whether you’ve started, or been procrastination a bit, today I want to explore a motivational coaching tool called the 1-10 scale.
According to Dr. Linda Bark, author of The Wisdom of The Whole: Coaching for Joy, Health and Success:
The 1-10 scale is a measurement tool with several advantages: it specifies the objective, it offers a snapshot of where you are now, and it can highlight the essential steps you’ve already made towards your goal.
What is your New Year’s resolution, objective, or challenge? Perhaps your doctor advised you to start exercising and eating better because your blood sugar levels are high; maybe you want to quit smoking. Perhaps you finally want to clean out that basement or garage, or maybe this is the year you finish writing that book. No matter the situation or goal, if you feel stuck and don’t know how or where to start. Then the 1-10 scale might be helpful.
Let's use the book writing project as an example:
So, you have a book you want to finish writing or start writing. Please close your eyes take a few deep breaths, and tell me in detail how things will be when you finish the book? Go ahead, take a few deep breaths.
You might describe taking the tape off the box of published books that the UPS driver just dropped off. You take one of the books out of the box and see your photo on the back cover. You’re overwhelmed with pride. You call your parents, friends, and extended family everyone you know and then you plan a big party to celebrate. Woo hoo!
That moment of book completion and celebration is your ten on the 1 to 10 scale.
Then what’s the opposite of the goal, and that's one on the imagined scale. What’s that like? Is that when you first got the idea for the book or is that when you put pen to paper or is that when you scheduled your first research trip. What does step one of writing your book look like for you?
Next, trust me, please get up from your chair, imagine a 1 to 10 scale on your floor and intuitively go to the number on the floor representing where you are now. Is it two you have already started writing, is it five you are almost done writing the first draft, is it 8.5 you are editing the final manuscript?
Of course, you could do all of this in your mind but getting up out of the chair and imagining the scale on the floor is more powerful particularly if you are a kinesthetic learner.
Now, you are on your current spot, look back, and tell me what was vital in helping you get to where you are now? You might say outside support or listening to your gut instinct, and maybe it’s just grit and determination. Your answer to this could illuminate your path forward.
Next, let me know how your current situation feels. I invite you to describe thoughts, feelings, body sensations, energy levels, and your sense of spirit.
Some specific questions are:
What are you thinking?
What feelings are present at this step on your journey?
What sensations do you feel in your body? Your stomach? Shoulders? Back?
How’s your breathing? Deep? Shallow? Are you short of breath?
What is your life goal? How does this project align with your life purpose? Are you called to add spiritual or religious support for this change? What would that look like? Who could help you with that?
So, now, back to you and your imagined book writing project. Let's say you feel like you’re at a three on the scale, and you describe it as:
Feeling overcome with the remaining work.
Feeling worried about wanting to move forward.
Feeling the heaviness of the book on their shoulders.
Seeing a clear picture of hiking up a steep hill.
Feeling your stomach clenched with stress.
Sensing low energy like being in quicksand.
Questioning if the book is really a meaningful venture.
Feeling out of touch with the project and its connection to your life purpose.
Then move to the next number and imagine what you might think, feel, and experience at this stage. You don’t need to know how you got there. You can’t do this incorrectly; just follow your inner voice and see what shows up for you.
From there, keep moving forward. Maybe you’ll continue up to 10. Or you might stop at a lower number. You may get to a point where you question the goal's point, or do you even have the energy or bandwidth to finish. Perhaps your book writing goal needs reimagining? Stay open and see what comes up.
After clients have gone as far as they want to go, I ask them to sit back in their seats, asking them for significant insights or takeaways. Often, they report action steps that they know will help them move forward, a deep inner sense that they can achieve their goal, or a realigning of purpose or energy.
Even if a client only takes one step forward, this tool's real power comes from greater awareness not only with their thinking but in their learning to listen as much as they can to their body, energy, and spirit signals. It’s about an integration of their whole being.
The 1 to 10 scale is fun and easy and can be used for any goal. You could use the 1 to 10 scale with your stressed-out teenager who is feeling stuck with their term paper or with a group of colleagues working on a long-term project. Perhaps designate one team member to stand on the scale, while the whole team brainstorms progress up the scale.
The 1 to 10 scale is a perfect exercise to do with an accountability buddy, with your mastermind group, or you could simply go through this on your own and journal your insights as you move up the scale.
However you use it, the 1 to 10 scale is fun and easy and will help you make progress towards your goals.
I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and thank you for reading this blog about the 1 to 10 scale. If you have any questions about this video, health and wellness, or wellness coaching with me, please reach out via my website at lizmosercoaching.com.
Bye for now and be well,
Liz
