As dead as a dodo.

Last week I talked about taking tiny steps to reach your goal. Tiny steps that will motivate, give a sense of progress and reduce the sometimes overwhelming thoughts that can happen with big or scary change.

I also mentioned risk. Most importantly pre-elimination of risk!

I'm guessing you are familiar with risk management. Either through a formal system at work or just keeping tabs on things as you go along.

But how often do you pre-eliminate risk for your change? How often do you sit down before you even start something new and think:

"OK, what might derail this change?"

And if you do then how often do you think:

"How can I kill that risk dead?" and then go and do exactly that. Eliminating the risk up front.

Ideally you want that risk dead as a dodo. One that's not coming back anytime soon. Or at least make it so infinitely unlikely that you just need to find a way to contain it from causing havoc if it does come back from the dead?

The best way to manage risk is to kill it dead before there's even a whiff of danger.

So what were my risks for the foot operation I had recently and how did I kill them dead before the op?

The facts - I needed to be off my feet as much as possible for 2 weeks plus after surgery, then slowly get about with a boot and crutch for 4+weeks. Something that would drive me nuts. I like the great outdoors, I'm always on my feet, I have dogs, I need my feet! I need my hands! I'm always rushing about!

So there's a huge risk of getting frustrated and loosing my mojo, a risk of feeling like I'm getting no exercise, a risk of trying to do too much to quickly and falling over or making it worse, a risk that despite all my husbands efforts the house turns into a tip as he's busy doing all the things to look after me and the dogs.

I could manage these post op by checking in, monitoring, or....

Or I could try and pre-eliminate them before I went anywhere near the hospital.

Here's how

Step 1: Think of the risks as Aliens. Dangerous aliens on a spaceship. If in those films of aliens on spacecraft the crew went out immediately, as a big group with the big guns, and killed the alien (rather than trying to be clever and lock it up so they could learn from it) then they would all survive. I admit it would be a very short and dull film but when it comes to your change do you want to be on Aliens IV or do you want to just get it done with as little fuss as possible?

Back to my Aliens and Killing them dead (as dodos)

Alien 1: Getting frustrated and loosing my mojo

Kill it dead - double up on supplements to boost my immune system - I want the SAS not the TAs -so I heal as quickly as possible.

Contain it - focus activities to writing and things I can do on the sofa and feel like I'm not getting behind on my goals for the year, in fact I can use the time to get a head start on book 3!

Alien 2: Feeling like I'm getting no exercise

Kill it - Build a new habit for an exercise regime 6 weeks before that builds core, balance and upper body and can be done after the op. These exercise will also help getting around post op, moving quickly on a crutch, getting out of bed etc. Therefore these exercises also kill the next risk.

Contain it - Set a challenge on an App to keep me motivated to do it.

Alien 3: Trying to do too much to quickly and falling over or making it worse.

See Alien 2

Alien 4: Despite all my husbands efforts the house turns into a tip as he's busy doing all the things to look after me and the dogs.

Kill it - Prepare some meals for the freezer. He has work, dogs to walk, house to tidy and me to look after. Having some of our favourite meals in the freezer will help with time and make us both feel happy.

Contain it - Get all my stuff ready that I might need in one place so it's easy to find and put back without needing his help for everything.

Compare this to typical risk management strategies which might be more like:

Make sure to go slow, take your time, check in often, go slow, use both crutches all the time, avoid the stairs, go slow etc. Does this ring any bells for your risk mitigation plans? Be honest.

Of course I might still fall over but I'm much less likely too because I've already got used to using only one leg and balance.

Of course I might fall over and damage the foot healing process but my immune system is working extra hard to speed up the healing process so again the risk is much smaller.

Don't write down your risk and just update the register

Do start your change by killing dead all the things (Aliens) that could go wrong so that they can't go wrong