Quite often we wait for a future date to commit to something that we need to work on - I’ll start Monday/next week/new year etc. Why is that?
Any conscious decision to make a change is essentially a three-step process:
1. Decision to change
2. Taking action to make the change
3. Embedding the change
If you know there is something you need or want to change, why not do it now? Commit to it, start it now - don’t think, don’t procrastinate. Taking action is the hardest step in making any change (successfully embedding this change is for another time).
While fire burns within you, use that motivation to change your behaviour immediately. To make any sustained change, you need to build it into a habit rather than rely on the sugar hit of motivation, as motivation always fluctuates over time.
This change be anything - losing weight, quitting a bad habit, being a better parent/partner etc.. Craig Harper regularly talks about the mentality of change on his podcast “The You Project”. He emphasises the importance of taking immediate action.
Making a change doesn’t need to be a quantum leap. The person that picks up a guitar for the first time is not suddenly going to have the greatest hit of all time. A person who has never run before is not suddenly going to be able to run a marathon.
If anything, if you want to successfully change, you are far more likely to be effective if you make small, incremental changes that develop into habits. Over time constant change can result in exponential growth.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” – Lao Tzu
A commitment to change should not be limited to a once-a-year New Year resolution, it should be ongoing. Today is that day… make that change now.
Comments