Here are some tips on creating the changes in your life that you’d like to make!
First of all, make the change your own desire, without any influence from anyone else. Evaluate why you want the change, such as, how will it help you? How will it change your life, activities and relationships? Write these things down. Even post them on your wall and read them daily to reinforce the purpose for your desired change. This can help create motivation.
Make the purpose for making the change bigger than the pain that stopping the bad habit or adding the good habit causes. Possibly you’ve failed before. Was some sort of mental or physical discomfort a contributing factor in your failure? Can you imagine how, if you can generate a desire big enough, a reason big enough, and focus on that positive, that it could help get you through the rough spots?
And I feel that what I’m about to tell you next is extremely important: Pat yourself on the back for your successes, no matter how small, and brush off your failures. Totally brush them off! There are enough things beating us up in life….don’t be one of them! I tend to believe that rewards and pleasure do more to create change than punishment. So, focus on the positive and totally let anything else go. Ask yourself, and keep a journal, of what you did well each day. Only write down what you did well. Read over those things to inspire and uplift yourself. I think you’ll be amazed how this will encourage you and strengthen you.
Take time and nourish your spirit. We only have so much tolerance for stress. Making changes are stressful. If you’re under stress, including not getting enough sleep or having time to enrich yourself, you’ve got that much less fortitude to push through the rough times when you’re trying to push through change.
Be patient. How long have you had the habit you’re trying to change? How far into your future do you want the habit to remain changed? Answer these questions. They are probably a big chunk of time. Once you’ve answered that, then ask yourself how long of a time would be reasonable to allow yourself to create this life-changing change? This may put things into perspective a bit as to how small even a couple of years can be relative to the life you’ve lived so far and the rest of your life that you have remaining.
And remember, you’ve never failed until you quit trying.
