How to Change Your Iife – Part 2
Taking Action! Image from reellifewisdom.com
Your decision to change
“It’s better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late.” Author Unknown
How To Change Your Life – Part 2
Something has motivated you to make change some serious changes in your life. It doesn’t matter what the motivator was, the important point is that you have decided to change – a huge step. Next, you need to act on that decision.
When planning something like this, the “six little helpers” are often a useful starting point:
What
When
How
Where
Why
Who
In How to Change Your Life – Part 2, let’s take a look at them. Some are critical at this time, while others are distractions – you need to know the difference!
What will change?
Your most important question – knowing what you are changing and what you are changing to, and aiming at. We touched on this in How to change your life – Part 1, and it is critical to keep it in mind. Clarity of mind leads to power of purpose! When you can see the goal clearly, you can map out the steps to it more easily. You can also see the obstacles too – and that is vital!
When will this change?
The answer will often be NOW, or in the immediate future. The urgency can dictate criteria that will override other factors at times, including the time available for planning. Allow as much time as possible, but use all the time available wisely. Be aware of deadlines!
How?
Step by step. We will focus on this aspect in later blogs, in great detail, but for now, consider it a “goalsetting process”. Start by seeing the end goal as having been achieved. Feel the sense of achievement in advance. Use that as a motivation to invest the time available into considering all aspects of your planning for this life change.
Where?
May not be relevant at the moment, but later in the process of changing your life, it will have a bearing.
Why?
The great distractor! Please don’t be sidelined by trying to understand “why” everything or anything is the way it is. Deal with the reality that right now, you have made a decision to change, you have already found reasons for it, and trying to understand other factors or people’s motivations for the circumstances will only take your eyes off the prize. Right now, you need to focus on the priorities and aside from understanding your motivation to change, asking “Why?” about most of the other factors is not usually going to assist your planning.
Who? Lots of WHO questions to consider.
Family support team. Image from walkingwithattitude.com
Who will be affected by the change? Will they support you, or not? Who do you need to approach to gain support and guidance from, either from within your close circles, or from external sources?
Family is the first consideration – if you are making a major life change, you need your family onside, or a plan to deal with the consequences. There are times when the decision that is best for you may not be the most popular with your family, even if it is the best course. If that is the case, you need to get the required support you need from elsewhere, and plan for accessing the resources your family might usually provide from elsewhere too.
If your family are beneficiaries of your decisions, you need to involve them in the process – it’s the best way to ensure you retain their support.
Who else is likely to be affected by your decision? Co-workers, friends or others in your community? Is this important to you and to the success of your decision? If their support is important, how can you get them on board and keep them with you?
If they are likely to be adversely affected and not support you, how will you deal with this?
Who do you need support and guidance from, in specific areas? Would a Life Change Coach be valuable to you through this period?
Time for a life change coach? Image from choosemylife.com
Life Change Coaches specialise in situations where you need to start over in one area of life, or for where you need to reinvent yourself totally. If you are making a fresh start, by definition, you are unlikely to be prepared or experienced in that area, just because you are starting somewhere new. However, you can access the resources, skills and experiences you need, possibly even some shortcuts, by retaining a Life Change Coach.
There will be many areas and moments in this change process where additional support could be valuable. Even if your family and friends are all on side with you, some of the situations will be outside the experience and knowledge base of any of those people, well-meaning though they are.
The other factors of importance here are objectivity and a broader perspective. Because a Life Change Coach is outside your immediate world, they will have a broader world view. Because they are not personally vested, they will have objectivity. Those two factors alone make a Life Change Coach a valuable investment.
Next blog will be about developing and maintaining the self-discipline you need to successfully manage and maintain a positive life change experience. Whilst life change CAN be an event, maintaining and reaping the benefits of the changes over time requires self-discipline!
Til next time, fair winds and full sails!
Ray Jamieson
Relevant articles:
How to change your life – Part 1
“Success emerges from the quality of the decisions we make and the quantity of luck we receive. We can’t control luck. But we can control the way we make choices.” ― Chip Heath, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work
It’s what you really wanted, isn’t it? Image from saracville.org