Stressing out because you’ve put off that big class project until the last minute – again?

The stress you’re feeling likely is caused by the fact that you believe being a good student is a good thing, but you’re not quite behaving like one.

The Reality Model, designed by Hyrum Smith, co-founder of FranklinCovey, helps change behavior by figuring out what principle or belief is behind the behavior. He says those ideas are on a “belief window,” through which everything is filtered. Those beliefs and principles then automatically generate rules that dictate behavior. For example, if a person believes they have to win games at all costs, they will cheat every time they start losing.

The trick is figuring out if that behavior benefits that person in the long-term. If it does, the person will continue to do so and will find what he calls inner-peace. If it doesn’t work in the long-run, it causes stress and pain. The way to determine whether a principle or belief is working for you, walk through these six steps:

1. If the results of my behavior do not meet my needs, there is an incorrect principle on my belief window.
2. Results take time to measure.
3. Growth is the process of changing principles on your belief window.
4. Addiction is the result of deep and unmet needs.
5. If your self-worth is dependent on something external, you are in big trouble.
6. When the results of your behavior do meet your needs over time, you experience inner-peace.

“Changing a belief on your belief window isn’t easy, folks,” Smith told students in the Profiles in Leadership class, taught by Dean Taylor Randall and Professor Al Landon. “Talking about it is, but actually doing it is hard work.”

But that hard work is worth the result. Belief windows are not only found on a person, but also companies. Watch this video to see how Smith’s company had a bad principle on its window and what the leaders there did to fix it:

How do you see this model helping you change your behavior for the better?