Why is it that we all want to change certain things?
It might be something to do with our self control. It may be to do with time management.
It may be to do with having better relationships with loved ones.
It may be about being more assertive at work.
It may be trying to get a getting a raise.
It may be about running a business.
It may be about personal development, like going to the gym, or changing our diet, or maybe even starting meditating.
We all want to change and develop and develop new habits that will serve us better, but somehow the ability to change eludes us, and we end up feeling frustrated and a bit useless.
Yet there are some people who can change.
There are some people who perform at massively high levels, even with very disadvantaged backgrounds… and yet they seem to rise above all that and find ways to excel and to develop themselves and become super effective and professional.
So what do they know that most of us don’t know?
The key to this all is really very simple process: Effective and successful people are able to do things that ineffective and unsuccessful people aren’t able to do.
It’s a very simple and obvious common sense rule.
So, the question is, how are these people able to do it when so many of us struggle to change and struggle to be more effective in our lives?
And the answer to that is that they have this burning desire inside them, driven by whatever it is that enables them to rise above the problems, the costs, the pressures, the issues, and the subconscious barriers.
So: knowing all that, how can we learn from that and apply that to our own lives?
How can we use these ideas to be more successful ourselves?
And the answer to that is that there are three things that we need to have access to that will make this much easier to do.
The first thing is true principles of common sense.
The second thing is developing new habits in small steps, and
he third thing is having a system or person to help keep us on track, so that we just keep going no matter how tough times are.
So, firstly, principles of common sense.
There are certain principles and rules of the universe that apply, whether we like them or not, and therefore we are challenged to either take notice of them and take advantage of them or spend our lives bashing our heads against them.
A simple example of this would be gravity.
There is no point in trying to live your life as if gravity doesn’t exist: You will fail every time.
So, in order to fly, you need to know and understand and take note of the laws of gravity in order to enable you to design the system that’s going to allow you to fly.
And principles apply to everything in life, and they can be learnt and applied step by step in your life.
The second thing is developing habits to align with those principles.
We all know how hard it is to change habits: As soon as we want to try something new, our subconscious brain, which controls 95% of our activities, wants to stop us.
- It’s too inconvenient.
- It’s too difficult.
- Expensive.
- Makes us feel bad.
- Makes us feel awkward, not achievable at this position, in this person, in this relationship, in this situation, and we’re going to find all sorts of excuses why we can’t change habits, because our brain likes consistency and likes to stick to old habits, whether they serve us or not.
So, any suggestion of changing habits will always be resisted by our subconscious brain, and the way around that is really quite simple and common sense, which is:
To start changing your habits in tiny steps.
In business, this process is called Kaizen, but I prefer to use the phrase “go the extra inch”…
… to start doing new things inch by inch,
… and then catching yourself doing it well,
… congratulating yourself and continually improving and taking the next inch.
Because, as we say, by the inch it’s a cinch, but by the yard it’s hard.
So then the third thing is to have some sort of system or person, paid or unpaid, to help keep you on track to help you continually keep practising these extra inches.
Because success and change won’t come immediately.
There will always be setbacks, and you will often feel that you’re not getting the sort of progress that you want, but success will come to you over time.
As they say, an overnight success takes 10 years to make.
Success comes over time, and it’s the continual repetition of these habits based on the principles of effectiveness.
So, you need a person or a system, to help keep you on track, keep you going through thick and thin, so that over time your life takes a totally different trajectory.
It is all about small changes based on sound principles multiplied over time, and this will effect a massive change in your life over time.
Small steps X time = huge results.
If you’d like to learn more about this, please get in touch: we often run free seminars on this and can help you access coaching and training to make this a reality for you.