A RULE of Motivational Interviewing

Are you familiar with the RULE acronym in Motivational Interviewing? RULE is sometimes referred to as the “guiding principles” of Motivational Interviewing.

The RULE Motivational Interviewing acronym is an oldie but goody! And when I say oldie, it’s because it’s from a previous edition of Miller & Rollnick Motivational Interviewing book, AND it still remains a guiding principle of Motivational Interviewing today!

So here is your RULE reminder!

RESIST the Fixing Reflex! That pesky Fixing Reflex is our natural human instinct, when confronted with someone struggling, to jump in and FIX, give suggestions, provide solutions, or even try to convince them of the need to change! In Motivational Interviewing, we want to resist the fixing reflex. Do what it takes to sit on your hands, bite your tongue… you get it. Don’t jump in to tell people what they should be doing! (It doesn’t feel great when people do that to you, does it?)

UNDERSTAND the person’s own motivations for change. This is key! In Motivational Interviewing, we don’t assume a person’s motivations for change- we get curious about them! Because we in fact aren’t them, we can’t possibly know what their true motivations are. Get curious about their values, drivers, what they want for themselves, and explore how this change might help them get there. In order to understand, we have to…

LISTEN with empathy. As I just mentioned, we in fact are not our clients, so to really help them, we need to listen to them. I love the quote, “What people need is a good listening to.” Or another favorite, “Take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth.” Get still inside, get curious, and listen to what your client is telling you. Empathy means striving to understand their perspective. Set aside yours, and listen to theirs. 

EMPOWER your client to own the change they are wanting! To connect with their inner motivations, drives, strengths, abilities and ideas for how they want to accomplish this change. Empowerment is an essential element of the spirit of Motivational Interviewing.

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Motivational Interviewing Tip of the Week:

The guiding principles of RULE in Motivational Interviewing is a great reminder of what we are striving to do as Motivational Interviewers. Resist the urge to fix, strive to understand their motivations for change, listen with empathy and seek ways to empower them as you support them!

Watch my full video here!