The Six Stages of Change
Successful change unfolds through six predictable stages — knowing which stage you are in determines which strategies will actually work
The Six Stages of Change model reveals that successful behavior change is not a single event but a process that unfolds through six distinct stages: Precontemplation (not yet acknowledging a problem), Contemplation (aware of the problem but ambivalent), Preparation (planning to take action soon), Action (actively modifying behavior), Maintenance (sustaining new behavior over time), and Termination (the former problem no longer presents any temptation). Fewer than 20 percent of people with a problem are ready for action at any given time, yet over 90 percent of behavior-change programs are designed only for that minority. The model was developed from studying over thirty thousand people across more than fifteen high-risk behaviors and proved 93 percent predictive of therapy dropout rates when treatments were mismatched to stages.
- Change is a process that unfolds through predictable stages, not a single event
- You cannot skip stages — trying to accomplish changes you are not ready for sets you up for failure
- Moving from one stage to the next represents genuine progress, not just taking action
- Fewer than 20 percent of people are prepared for action at any given time
- People who try to use action-stage strategies during earlier stages set themselves up for failure
- You may be at different stages for different problems simultaneously
- Precontemplation — Resisting ChangeAt this stage you do not see yourself as having a problem. You resist change, deny the issue, and may feel demoralized about any possibility of improvement. Your family, friends, and colleagues can see the problem clearly but you cannot. You may show up for help only because of external pressure — a spouse threatening to leave, an employer threatening to fire you.Pro tipPrecontemplators do not want to change themselves — they want to change the people around them who keep nagging. If you recognize this pattern, it is a strong signal you are in precontemplation.WarningDenial is characteristic of this stage. Precontemplators often place responsibility on genetics, addiction, family, or destiny — all factors they see as outside their control.
- Contemplation — Change on the HorizonYou acknowledge the problem and begin thinking seriously about solving it. You struggle to understand causes and wonder about solutions. Many contemplators have indefinite plans to take action within the next six months. You know your destination and even how to get there, but you are not quite ready to go.Pro tipThe transition out of contemplation is marked by two changes: you begin focusing on the solution rather than the problem, and you start thinking more about the future than the past.WarningSelf-changing smokers typically spent two years in contemplation before taking action. Chronic contemplators substitute thinking for action indefinitely — beware of becoming one.
- Preparation — Getting ReadyYou are planning to take action in the near future and may already be taking small steps. This is the stage where commitment solidifies and you begin making concrete plans. You accept responsibility for changing and acknowledge that you are the only one who can respond, speak, and act for yourself.Pro tipPublic commitments are much more powerful than private ones. Announcing your decision to change creates self-applied pressure, because failing in front of others motivates perseverance.WarningKeeping your commitment private protects you from embarrassment but weakens your will. The desire to avoid shame actually helps drive successful change.
- Action — Time to MoveYou overtly modify your behavior and surroundings. You stop smoking, remove desserts from the house, pour the last beer down the drain, or confront your fears. This is the most visible stage but far from the only one where progress happens. Action requires the greatest commitment of time and energy.Pro tipAction is not the only time you make progress. Changing your level of awareness, emotions, self-image, and thinking in earlier stages is equally significant progress.WarningProfessionals who equate change with action design great programs but get minuscule sign-up rates and high dropout. Programs must be geared to whatever stage people are actually in.
- Maintenance — Staying ThereYou work to consolidate gains from the action stage and struggle to prevent lapses and relapse. Maintenance is not a static phase but a critically important continuation that can last from six months to a lifetime. The euphoria of initial change often gives way to a sense of loss and deprivation.Pro tipGo through a mourning process for your old behavior. Even destructive habits served as companions and coping mechanisms. Acknowledging the loss helps prevent relapse driven by nostalgia.WarningThree internal challenges closely predict slips: overconfidence, daily temptation, and self-blame. Frequent inappropriate self-blame is one of the best predictors of failed maintenance.
- Termination — Exiting the CycleYour former problem no longer presents any temptation or threat. Your behavior will never return and you have complete confidence you can cope without fear of relapse — all without any continuing effort on your part. You have exited the cycle of change.Pro tipTermination is the ultimate goal but not everyone reaches it for every problem. Some people maintain change indefinitely without ever fully terminating, and that is an acceptable outcome.WarningNearly all change begins with precontemplation, but only the most successful ends in termination. Of contemplators followed for two years, only 5 percent made it through with no setbacks.
A fifty-five-year-old manager fell asleep in front of the television every evening, was irritable and tense, had lost interest in everything except work. He could not understand why anyone was worried about him and could not see that checking out of life was a problem.
Approximately thirty million smokers have successfully quit on their own, almost twenty times as many as those who quit following a treatment program. The average successful self-changer recycled through the stages three or four times before succeeding.
Fully 45 percent of therapy clients drop out after only a few sessions. Therapists blamed them as unmotivated or resistant. The researchers tested whether dropout rates were connected to mismatched stages and processes.
James Prochaska interviewed two hundred people trying to quit smoking, from rural Rhode Island farmers to urban professionals. A middle-aged woman he describes told him that which change strategies she used depended on when in the process he was asking about. This insight — that people use different tools at different times — led Prochaska and DiClemente to discover that change unfolds through a series of predictable stages, a finding that was not part of any existing theory of psychotherapy.