In order to get more of what you want in life, something has to change. Otherwise you’d already have it. To get through a change requires a decision first and then commitment. This process will take finding an awareness of what needs to change. It requires looking at where you are now, where do you really want to be and what habits are keeping you where you are.
I realize change can be difficult. We get comfortable where we are. It may not be ideal but it’s our comfort zone. This comfort zone has become habit. You’re there because of your habits and your habits will keep you stuck there as long as you let them. Fear of the unknown, not being sure how it will turn out, are common reasons that keep people where they are. You’ve settled for what you have even though you know life could be better. When you are looking at what you want, where you strive to be in life, rather than where you feel stuck, it makes getting there easier. If the word change has a negative connotation for you, adjust your perspective. Look at the good that can come from change. Normally when we desire change, it means an increase of some sort. The change will make life better. Focus your thought and your energies on that increase, the new result you want in your life. Let’s look at what is keeping you from the change you desire. Habits! Before a change can be made, you have to become aware of what needs to change. Look at your daily activities, at your thinking. All change must begin in your mind. Why do you do what you do? Is it a choice you’ve made or are you living from your programming? Many of our habits, including how we think, have been passed down to us. We do things the way our parents did, or think and act in a certain way because that’s what we were taught or what we picked up from the environment we were raised in. Looking at it with an open mind, questioning where the behavior came from so that you can recognize what needs to change, is what it takes to break free. It’s not necessary to understand or get to the root of why and analyze it, as much as it is to see the behavior that is keeping you there. Look at your behaviors or habits and ask yourself, if I were to change one habit, how would it improve my life? You always have to replace one habit with another habit. You can’t just remove a habit. That would create a void which would get filled with yet another behavior that may be as bad as the one you wanted to get rid of. Find a positive, productive habit to put in the place of the habit you want to change. For example, if when you look at your daily habits and you see yourself watching television for four hours a day and you know that this habit is preventing you from building that project you’ve been thinking about doing for years or creating another source of income, look at what habit you could form that would change that and move you toward what you really want. If eliminating television seems too difficult, take steps to make a gradual shift. Start by cutting it down. Then purposefully add a new activity to replace it, a positive habit where you will see new results. Once you start seeing the improvements, you will want to do even more. Whatever the new habit is that you are working to establish, you must be consistent and not miss a day. Old habits can be hard to break. You must have determination. Keep looking at how your life will improve when you make the change, and it will keep moving you forward. Never try to change more than one or two habits at a time. The only way to change a habit is with repetition. Daily and consistently do the new activity, which replaces the old habit. It may take 30, 60, 90 days or more to establish a new habit, depending on the habit and how deeply ingrained it is in your subconscious mind. Once the new activity has been established as a habit, then you can move onto changing another one. A habit I recently changed was drinking soda. I could probably say that I was addicted to Pepsi, even though most days I had it down to just drinking two cans. The biggest factor in making this change started with a committed decision. I made the decision that I wanted to be healthier and that included changing what I drank. I quit drinking all soda, caffeinated or not. I even quit drinking juice and my beverage of choice is now water. I can honestly say that it didn’t seem that hard to do and that’s because of the decisions I made. I made the decision to be healthier and the decision of what to drink instead of sugary drinks. It’s been seven months since I made the decisions and I am so glad I did. You can make any change in your life that you truly want. You just have to want it bad enough to do what it takes, and bad enough to make the committed decision. Focus on the good results you will see in your life because of the change. Be consistent, persistent and don’t quit. That’s what it takes to succeed. If you skip a day, don’t beat yourself up, just get back on track the next day with more commitment to see it through. The change is possible. Change your thinking, change your habits and you will change your results.
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We think in pictures. Just like our night dreams are visual images, so is our thinking. When we decide on and create a goal, we must get a clear visual image of what it is and what we are creating. This image is important because it is what you will be focusing on as you move toward your goal. To start, you must be very clear on what it is you want. If you are not specific, you may not get exactly what you want. You must see yourself living with your goal achieved. You are putting your ideas out into the universe and the Law of Attraction is going to help you reach your goal, that’s why it’s so important to be very specific on what it is you want. The universe doesn’t like vagueness. It must have specificity. If your goal is for your dream home, see yourself walking around it, living in it, feeling what it is like to live there. See what it looks like, inside and out. What are the features and colors you want in the home? What is the style? How is it furnished? If your goal is to achieve a certain position or job within a company, what is it? What are you wearing, where is your office if you have one? What do you do at your job every day? Who are the people you talk to or work with? How does it feel to be in this position? What does it look like for you? It is vitally important to mentally visualize yourself there and everything about it in order to create this for yourself. Maybe your goal is to build a business. See yourself as the leader. What does the business do? Who are the customers and how does it benefit them? How many employees do you have? What is the atmosphere or culture you have created for your business? What is the revenue you are creating? Why are you creating this business and what are you doing with the income you’ve generated? You must see in your mind what all this looks like. A clear image of your goal will evolve over time, maybe days, maybe months. The more you think about it, the clearer it will become. The details may also change as the image evolves. Once you have a clear enough picture in your mind of what you want, begin to write it out. More details will come to you as you write because writing causes thinking. And thinking causes feelings and you must emotionally connect with this goal or it’s not going to happen. Feel what it’s like once you have achieved it. Really feel it from the heart. Hand write your specific description, including all the details, with enough clarity so that if someone else were to read it they would understand exactly what your goal is. The important point about writing this out is to always keep it in the present tense, like it’s already happened. Physically handwriting it out is also important because the physical motion of writing gives you a direct connection to your mind, for a more powerful application of your desires. Your completed written description now gives you a detailed visual of your goal, of your true desire. You will want to read this everyday as you move toward your goal. Keep this description in front of you so that it’s easy to focus on it and you can quickly mentally recall the images of your goal. Robert Collier says, “Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” Visualization is an incredibly powerful tool to use in achieving your goals. Keep it fun and don’t force it. See it in your mind, believe it is yours, and you will attract it into your life. Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash All goals start as an idea in the mind. Ideas are created in the imagination. Perhaps you have an idea that starts as a fantasy and then turns into a wish, something you might like to do someday. These ideas can remain a fantasy or they can be turned into a goal. When you decide to commit to doing whatever it will take to make it happen and believe you can do it, even though you may not know how, it turns your fantasy into a goal. DECIDE The first important point here is to decide. Nothing happens until you make a decision. When you make a decision, it starts the movement or actions that will move you toward what you want. Without action, your idea remains a wish. COMMIT Once you have decided, it takes commitment. A committed decision is strong. Nothing can interfere with a committed decision. You are emotionally invested in this decision and will do whatever it takes to push through and get it done. Even though I am a coach, I work with a coach because I want to continually improve and grow. As a result of one of my sessions, I was looking at my dreams and the question was, “Why am I committed to this?” This stopped me. I really had to think about that. I know it’s something I really want to do, but I wasn’t sure if I was committed to this, or if it was just a wish. If I was committed to it, I would be taking action to move toward it. Would I be OK if it didn’t happen? How emotionally involved was I with this dream? It took some thought to sort it out. I decided that I am committed to this dream. I am emotionally invested in making it happen. I am taking steps to move toward manifesting this dream and therefore it is a goal. A lot will have to change and happen before it is realized and that’s OK. That’s the fun part, seeing how it will happen. I will grow into the person that I have to be to achieve this dream. I’m excited and look forward to it with eager anticipation. BELIEF The next important factor in making this dream into a goal is belief. I must believe that I can do this. And I do. If I didn’t believe I could do it, all action would stop and it would remain a wish. It’s alright to not know how something can happen. The way will be shown with action and moving toward the goal. One action will lead to the next and so on. The resources, of whatever type are needed, will be there at the right time, when needed. It requires action to start the momentum that will get you to the goal. I’m not ready to share my dream with you. I believe and tell my clients that it’s important to protect your dream. You don’t want to be subject to other people’s negative opinions. They may not understand why it’s your dream and they have their own limiting beliefs. Let the journey and the manifestation show them. There will come a time when you can share what you’re doing. Just be careful what you share and who you share it with. Make sure it’s someone who supports you and won’t try to drag you down to where they are. You will continue to grow as you move toward your dreams and goals and that too will show them. How often do you have a good idea or come across something where you think, I’d like to do that, that would be fun, but I’m just not sure I can? You like the idea but don’t really take the action steps to get there. It remains just a wish unless action steps are taken that will move you toward what you want. You must be in love with this dream. It must create in you a strong emotional feeling, “Yes, I am going to do this, I love this idea.” Only then does the dream turn from a wish into a goal. If you have the idea, it is something that you are capable of doing. Dream big. What wish of yours are you going to turn into a goal? Image by DarkWorkX from Pixabay What is the main ingredient needed to be successful? It is to never quit. The only people who fail are those who quit. You may attempt to accomplish something one, two, three, one hundred or more times without the success you were striving for. Yet as long as you keep going and try again, and again, and again, as many times as it takes, you are successful. Every try at something, even if you didn’t get the results you wanted, has some sort of success tied to it because you’ve successfully learned what doesn’t work. You take the lesson, learn from it and go again. ThomasEdison became famous for saying “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” This is what it takes, persistence and consistent action. Embrace the “failures”. Know that you will encounter challenges and times that seem like failures. Welcome them. Know that with each failure you are that much closer to success. Don’t let a so called “failure” prevent you from trying again. Don’t let even the smallest hint of doubt you may hear in your own mind, stop you. Push through! Try again! If you don’t, it hurts your self-esteem. You feel like a failure when you give up on something. When the idea or goal you are working towards has a strong emotional connection for you, it will aid you in persevering. If you don’t feel emotionally invested in it, then you probably have the wrong goal. It takes belief and faith in yourself, in what you are creating, to keep moving, to keep trying especially when it seems difficult. You must remain positive and focused. Don’t let a set back discourage you. When you are working towards a goal, you ARE successful. You aren’t successful when you get there. You are successful because you are on your way there. To get there you will have to learn, grow, work and meet challenges. That’s just part of being successful. The journey may not be easy, yet it can be fun. Love what you are working towards. Anything worth having is worth working for and putting effort into having. That includes the ups and downs, the repeated attempts, the do overs and pushing through until you get it right. Pele, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest football (soccer) players of all time is quoted saying, “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” You have this dream because you have the ability and the capability to accomplish it. If you didn’t, you would not have the desire. As a result of this journey to reach your goal, you will grow into the person you need to be, the person who is the success you seek. Whether you are working towards something that takes practice like Pele, discovery like Edison, or whatever dream or goal that you want, keep at it and never quit! Then you will find the success you seek. Photo by Fab Lentz on Unsplash |