You are the sum of what you do repeatedly.
That’s it.
No special snowflake story here. Sorry.
Of course the story of your life will always be there. You have family, friends, loved ones you picked along the way. What you have lived forged the human being you are.
This also means that if you create a new story, you will create the new human being you want to become. Neat right? And scary.
But before anything changes physically, it has to change mentally. What happens in your life is only the refection of how your mind works. You cannot stay who you are and change for the better.
So go and take a good, loooooong stare in the mirror, and get ready for some honesty.
Do you know what habits you want to have, or lose, that would make you life better? YES?
Good, then take up a 30-day challenge, use the template described in my previous article, and get started today. Even better, get started now. Stop reading THIS article, and go and read the Creating Good Habits article. Then come back here and keep reading.
I’ll wait.
Done? Awesome.
Now you have taken action, here is the other part of the story : if you think changing habits will only change your habits, you are in for a surprise.
It will also change the person you are.
This is a two way street. The emerging you will make the new habits happen, and the new habits will make you someone new. Someone who does not think like the person reading this article right now.
Changing habits is defeatingly difficult.
It requires motivation to start, discipline to push through, and courage to face the consequences of your new choices. The aftermath is a more challenging obstacle than implementing, or stopping, the actual habit.
Why would the aftermath be difficult? Because if you change, everything will change.
So before engaging on any lifelong journey of becoming who you think you want to be, be warned :
- Your friends will question it, make fun of it, get angry at you, talk you out of it, put you back “ here you belong”.
- Your boyfriend /girlfriend / husband / wife might try and stop you, warn you, lull you back.
- Your family might ask you what’s gotten into you. That what you are doing is stupid, crazy, that you are being weird.
DO NOT LISTEN.
They are not aware that as you struggle to become better, they will be afraid to lose who they think you are. If they really love you ,and this is truly what you want for your life, they will understand and accept. This is important.
If they don’t, then you need to sit them down, and tell them the direction you are taking is what you want. If you CAN compromise to keep them in your life, I would advise to do so. If they still make things difficult, move on.
As Eric Thomas says “sometimes you have to cut the ropes that bind you to failure”.
On personal note, I have had to change friends and loved ones more times than I have wanted to. But today I am happier than I have ever been. Be warned, but pursue you dreams.
Take it easy.