Change your mind – Change your life.
I once heard a keynote speaker on a stage in Portland Oregon. As a keynote speaker, we were all expecting a talk that would encourage us and provide the motivation for us to pursue the dreams we all had for ourselves. It was with great anticipation that 30,000 stood and cheered when the speaker took the stage. All in the hopes of getting the external motivation we needed to put action steps in to make our dreams come true.
“If you want to change your life – change your life!”
With the customary “Are you fired up” comments from the speaker several times until he felt he had raised the bar on the attitude of the crowd, he said, “If you want to change your life – change your life!” And with that being said he waved and walked off the stage. I have to admit, I was expecting a dissertation on how to get motivated and, at first blush the crowd, myself included, started to murmur to ourselves. That’s it? No solution? No answers to all of the questions on how to? Nope. Then the reality of what was said started to sink in. If you want to change your life. Change it. Me. I was in charge. I had to come to the realization, as many did in that crowd that day, that I needed to stop looking for a leader in my life and look in the mirror. The motivation needed to be intrinsic. From me. After all, it was my goals and dreams, and if I wasn’t the number #1 advocate for my goals and dreams, then who would be?
- Dreams need to be defined to give you a target to aim for. No specific definable target – no need to pull the trigger.
- Action is the stuff dreams are made of.
- Learn to love the process and the goals and dreams will take care of themselves.
Quote – “In order to solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily, In order to improve them for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level” David Brooks.
In other words. create an action plan of small incremental, measurable, changes that can be performed on a daily basis. A change as small as 1% over a year would cause an improvement of 37%. For instance, you may have a goal of getting in shape. Define that goal. Does that mean to get stronger – how much stronger? Smaller waist size – what size? Lower body fat percentage – what is the goal percentage of body fat? Lower body weight – what is your target weight? I am suggesting that you define the goal in terms of things that can be measured.
Then comes the part that the speaker from Portland referred to “Change your Life.” Put in place action steps that would allow you to move in a different trajectory. One that moves toward your goal. If it is to lose weight, then create a plan for eating. Make it as simple as eating less calories than you burn. You can be creative in the ways that you can burn more calories. Walking from the farthest reaches of the parking lot to your office. Taking the stairs up a flight or two instead of the elevator. Who knows, you may find someone else with a goal similar to yours that takes the stairs and they can be an accountability partner. Maybe something as simple as packing a lunch and taking a walk during lunch time. Remember, we are only looking for a 1% change. You will be surprised how quickly you will assimilate that into your personality. You are the one that controls your progress. Own it. When the weight comes off and it gets noticed – it will already be who you are. Who you are is a direct function of what you do on a daily basis. Learn to love the process and the goal will take care of itself. “Want to change your life? Change your life!”
