Change Your Life: 5 Steps To Restart And Move Forward

Opting for change is not a casual choice or a whim. Most of the time, when we talk about important changes, we talk about an act of necessity, of firm conviction and above all, of courage. Because sometimes there is no other option but to do it, shed the skin, pull out roots and look for other maps to be able to “be”, to be able to restart and find that balance between needs and achievements, between desires and behaviors … As we will see below, all of this it is important when you make the courageous decision to change your life.

Winston Churchill said, with great success, that to improve is to change and that to be “perfect” is to have the courage to change often. However, to this statement we should add another equally important: changes are positive as long as we do not lose the essence, our own values. Therefore, any variation that we make throughout our life cycle should aim to get a little closer to what we really want to be.

Now, getting it is usually not easy or fast, much less pleasant, at least at first. Thus, something curious that usually happens is that most of us assume that we must make a change when something relevant happens in our life. Losing your job, leaving an emotional relationship, suffering a disappointment or failure is almost like a direct invitation to carry out what we often sum up in a popular phrase:  “renew or die.”

However, and this is important to be clear about, before seeing ourselves in these situations that place us on the edge of a cliff, it would not be bad to develop strategies related to personal change, to better face these moments. If “change” is synonymous with progress and improvement, let’s put it into practice daily, continuously, in an inclusive and intelligent way.

In this way, we will react much better to any event and we will feel more valid to continue moving forward. Let us therefore look at a series of strategies to achieve this goal.

Change your life in 5 steps

Changing your life is a need that you have felt on more than one occasion. That need will have led you to consult a self-help book to discover that most of them offer very similar general ideas, full of optimism and good intentions.

However, the reality is different. Our brain is resistant to change, it does not like it, it does not see it correct because for it it represents an imbalance and a direct threat to our survival. This leads us once again to the premise that all change is traumatic and therefore, to mitigate this impact, what we must do is apply 5 rules on a day-to-day basis; 5 thinking approaches that will help us promote that personal renewal.

1. Through simplicity comes clarity

Marcos has started teaching karate classes. To his students, children between 8 and 12 years old, he constantly repeats that “without pain, there is no achievement.” He does this while giving them very complex and exhausting instructions, encouraging effort. A week later, of his class of 20 students only 3 children remain.

What has this instructor done wrong? To think that it could generate in the small quick changes and a firm commitment to the classes is a mistake. The real changes, the best achievements, come by achieving simple, clear and motivating goals to work on every day.

In this way, and if you want to change your life, nothing better than to simplify the process. Set a goal, an easy one to achieve (even if it is part of a bigger and more difficult one). When you get it, propose another one for tomorrow that is a little more complicated or that represents a new advance. Thus, and without you realizing it, you will already have half a mountain conquered.

2. “Protect” your new behaviors

Any change, big or small, requires putting into practice new behaviors. However, there is a common problem that is not always talked about. How does our environment react to these variations? How do they react to our need to renew ourselves?

• We often feel the effect of inappropriate and unmotivating comments. In fact, we can get to the point (not recommended) of taking a step back due to the negative effect of criticism.
• Let’s avoid this. Be aware that all new behavior must be “protected. ” If you choose, for example, to stop hanging out with certain friends, spending more time, or pursuing other hobbies, don’t let what others say or may not affect you.

3. “Being” is easier than becoming

When you want to change your life, you can make the mistake of wanting to become someone else. It is common to visualize that image where we perceive ourselves as someone different, someone special arriving in a new place, performing exciting tasks, meeting different and interesting people.

Let’s keep our feet on the ground and understand two key aspects.

• Being is easier than becoming. In other words, promoting a change in our life does not mean transforming ourselves into someone we are not. This is neither logical nor healthy.
• Ideally, any change enhances the expansion of our being. That allows us to find balance, but at the same time challenging our fears and limitations to take a step further. A step to adjust  aspirations with achievements, dreams with triumphs, well-being with satisfaction.

4. The fear of the unknown is justified

In many self-help books we will find the following phrase “don’t be afraid, you can, trust yourself” . Well, this very hackneyed and overused expression has nuances that we must consider, let’s see.

• Being afraid is normal, so don’t deny it or hide it, just understand it.
• The fear of change is above all fear of uncertainty, what will happen, whether I will be able to, whether everything will go wrong. Understand that these types of thoughts respond to the survival mechanism of our brain encouraging us to stay still and not take risks.

Therefore, it does not hurt that you apply this series of verbalizations in your day to day that can be of great help.

• I am afraid and my fear is justified. It is a normal process that I must understand and manage. The objective is that this fear, far from paralyzing me, serves as a reason to challenge myself, to see how far I can go.
• To reduce that fear, I will set realistic, simple and progressive goals. I will go little by little, but without stopping.
• If there is one thing that is clear to me, it is that every change will take me to a place where I will be better. All change must be positive. Hence, I focus my mind on all the good that this process is going to suppose for me until I achieve the achievement.

5. Admire each result

If you want to change your life, remember that rush is not good companion. Going slow allows us to have a greater perspective, to be more aware of each step made, of the mistakes made and the corrections that it is better to apply.

Making one or more changes is not an easy task, it is not an easy path. In fact , sometimes, the shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line, but a zigzagging journey where we fall and get up two and three times …  where we lose ourselves and find ourselves again, where we can take one step forward and two steps back.

However, let’s not forget something in this adventure: to admire each result achieved. Because the success achieved, will correspond to ourselves and no one else. It is a process where there is only someone to please, attend and listen, and that someone is us. 

Therefore, do not hesitate to apply these tips if you want to change your life. Every effort will be worth it.