Who Is Susan?

I’m Susan Alexander: New Yorker, mother, cyclist, certified CrossFitter, former practicing lawyer, and geeky researcher of what I write about.

Change is something I know a lot about, first-hand.  I’ve actually made most of the kinds of changes people think about making.  A few examples: I left the practice of law to become a full-time mother; got into the best shape of my life by taking up cycling, CrossFit, and following the Primal Blueprint (aka “paleo”); and embraced a completely new pursuit (aka this blog).

Why this blog?

This blog was borne out of my desire to create order in an area where there is none, namely, the process of changing what we do in our daily lives. Stated simply, we all have things we want to start doing, stop doing, or improve at. When we choose to change ourselves in some way, we usually grasp onto action-based methods that give no guidance on how to think about change, or approach the learning it requires, or acclimate to what’s new and unfamiliar to us. When we focus only on the methods of a specific change, we run into trouble along the way because we ignore the underlying principles. (Indeed, we don’t even know what they are.)

Until now. I identified the precise principles of self-chosen change by observing and reading everything I could about it. From that, I created a memorable model that anyone can use for any change, regardless of scope, kind or method.

What’s the model?

The model is a uniform set of enabling principles that will make you better at change, any self-chosen change. It fuses thought and research reflecting how we learn, grow, work, play, and interact at our best. From multi–contextual sources, I extracted 4 principles that drive self-chosen change. To form a memorable model, I gave each principle a name beginning with the letter M.

The 4 principles are Mindset, Motion, Mastery, and Measurement. To keep us mindful of the change-driven forces of acceleration and velocity, I named the model RPM4 by taking M4 and adding RP upfront, to embed the acronym RPM.

Here’s what the research bears out:

MINDSET: Mindset is the thinking of change.

• Mindset is the view we adopt for ourselves. It’s what determines whether we believe we can change. Forming the right mindset is the crucial first step, because in order to make a change, we have to believe we can do the change.
• Believing we can change is different from just hoping we can. Believing comes from adopting a growth mindset – a view based on the simple truth that our abilities and intelligence are not fixed, and that we can evolve ourselves and what we do through our own efforts.
• The growth mindset is the opposite of the fixed mindset. It is the brutally pessimistic view that how we are now is as good as it gets, because the innate qualities we’re born with make us who we are and determine what we do.

MOTION: Motion is the doing of change.

• Motion is taking charge of the change by learning the skills needed for it – ineptly at first, and getting better and better at them through your own efforts.
• Approaching change with a growth mindset, we see change for what it is – for everyone: a trial and error, mistake-laden learning experience. Viewing change this way is what allows us to be nice to ourselves in the process. It’s what transforms our internal monologue from “I suck at this” to “I’m here to learn – I’m not supposed to be good at this already – it’s OK to screw up.”
• From this perspective, we’re not distracted by judgment – of ourselves or by others. We’re too busy learning and trying until we find what works.

MASTERY: Mastery is the feeling of change.

• Mastery in this context means micro mastery – the kind we feel periodically during the change process. It happens when we’ve been trying, over and over, to do something new, and we finally do some part of it – not perfectly – but just enough to make us think: “I can do it” or “Now I get it.”
• These small thoughts are a big part of change because they fuel the feeling of mastery, and that’s what this kind of mastery is: a feeling – it’s NOT an accomplishment, an achievement, or the reaching of an ultimate goal. It’s a naturally occurring reward that happens periodically along the way.
• Mastery is more powerful than we might think. It’s something we can learn to recognize and work toward. Why should we? Because mastery feels good. Once we feel it, we want to feel it again. So we carry on with more mistake-laden motion until we get some part of it right – just enough to reach more mastery. This progression of motion to mastery creates motivation and the will to keep moving toward what we want to accomplish.
• Which is why we don’t always have to feel motivated at the start of the change process. Motivation can kick in sometime after we begin, once we start doing the change (motion) and getting a taste of mastery.

MEASUREMENT: Measurement is the knowing of change.

• Measurement is essentially keeping track of what we’re doing and evaluating whether it’s working. It’s a mega-force that keeps us on track and persevering. We can be very creative with it.
• When you try out a change, before committing to it, measurement is optional and can take the simple form of recording what you do and what happens – with as little or as much specificity as you like. It can be great fun to try on possible changes, keeping in mind that you don’t have to commit to everything you try.
• When you decide to commit to a change, measurement becomes more structured. It becomes a single, essential principle comprised of 3 dependent parts: decision, action, and metric, meaning: 1) your decision to commit to the change; 2) your action plan for carrying it out; and 3) your chosen metric to provide feedback on the effectiveness of your efforts.
• Example: If you were trying out a nutrition plan, then before you committed to it, you would think of measurement as an optional step of recording what you’re doing and what happens – in whatever way you chose. If you decided to go long-term with the plan, then at that point, you would think of measurement as an essential principle with 3 parts: your decision to commit, your action plan for carrying it out, and your chosen metric (which could be many things – all chosen by you – such as grams of macronutrients eaten each day, your activity level, and your recorded weight over time).

This is the model on which this blog is based. I hope it gives you exactly what you need to streamline the changes you want to make in your life. I welcome your thoughts, ideas, and questions. Please share them in the comments section to any post. I read everything that comes in and reply to all that I can.

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