If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. – Gail Sheehy
The kids are going back to school, college, or university, the geese are starting to migrate and it’s a sure sign that the seasons are changing. The change of seasons is inevitable and so is change in life. Many changes in life are out of our control, such as getting older, the weather, world politics, the economy, and so on. Sure you can never completely control your life or your outcomes, but you can intentionally create change and increase the chances of being happy, healthy, successful and abundant (in whatever you want more of).
Many people plod through life, settling for whatever comes their way. The years roll by and they notice their dreams, goals, and visions have failed to materialize. They may feel a sense of sadness, regret, or disappointment about the life they are living, but they are not motivated enough to take action. Then sometimes something happens to jolt a person, to prompt them to make a change.
What prompts change?
- A crisis in your own life is the most dramatic trigger for change.
- A change in life situation such as losing a job or children going off to school or college may make a person reevaluate their life and decide they need to change.
- Witnessing something happening to someone else, like the death of a friend or loved one or hearing about someone making a radical shift. It can even be watching a movie or reading a story of personal transformation, which can cause you to have an “aha moment” that makes you want to change.
- Personal development is a good way to discover that you want to change… reading a book, attending a webinar, course, or program, getting coaching, and so on. You may gain knowledge or hear a story, which is interesting. Then suddenly a piece of information causes an insight that makes you realize something new and important about yourself, other people, or your situation and it’s almost like a switch has been flicked. Time to change. It can be hard to predict when this will happen, it’s almost a magical occurrence, one that you can’t force.
So when you have that moment that you decide change is needed what do you do next? Most people’s first instinct is to start taking action immediately, but this rarely leads to a good outcome. Instead you need to reverse engineer the change.
- Where are you starting? What’s the problem (dig deep)?
- What is the outcome you want to achieve (ideally) – be specific
- Get clear on why you want to change (aka the purpose of the change)
- Create a plan
- Supercharge the plan so you will get to your outcome quicker
- Start taking action
Take this approach and you are much more likely to achieve your outcome, but you are also more likely to feel in control and to enjoy the journey.