The Readiness Ruler is a core Motivational Interviewing technique that externalizes ambivalence about change. By separately rating importance and confidence, you can spot exactly what's blocking you — and what a small next step might look like.
Behavior to change
Importance ruler — How important is this change?
5
Not at allExtremely important
Why did you give it that number and not lower?
Confidence ruler — How confident are you that you could change?
5
Not confidentCompletely confident
Why not lower? What gives you that confidence?
Readiness ruler — Are you ready to change right now?
5
Not readyReady now
What would need to be different for the number to go up by 1?