As yet another brand-new year dawns on us, it is a good time to revisit where you are in your life and reassess if you can move forward with a new approach to how you live your life. Everyone makes their New Year’s resolutions with the hope that they will be able to keep them throughout the year and change how they live.
This blog is not about making these resolutions, but it is about getting on a new path. Instead, this blog is also about transforming your very life with a series of change initiatives, 10 in all, most of which start with how you think about what you do, and about changing your attitude about yourself. It is also about embracing some new ideas and actions, which, taken together, will transform your life for the better!
The following list of 10 items is my recommendation for creating this transformation:
1. Make a commitment to change: Any change starts from within. So, first evaluate what you need to change to make yourself more effective in whatever is important to you. On the personal front, this can be how you manage your relationships with others, your finances, or even your “free” time. Take (only) one item that is most important on that front and define a plan of action to drive the change you want to make to move towards the end goal you need to achieve. First, mentally visualize yourself doing this with your changed behaviors every day. Once you make this commitment—and the plan—you must stick to it!
2. Create stretch goals: In my coaching practice I can say with certainty that most of my clients, who initially come to me asking for help in their professional and personal life greatly underestimate their ability to achieve a goal that they initially set. In the absence of a defined goal, a plan that makes that goal achievable, and taking actions that bring you towards that goal, our mind conspires to undermine our abilities to achieve what we can truly achieve. So, once again, program your mind to first embrace that stretch goal.
3. Wake up scared: If you wake up every day and feel lost then you are living a humdrum existence. This also applies if you’re going about your everyday life like a robot. You are not tapping into your inner powers to help you conquer new mountains. If you are on a growth path and are venturing out to discover yourself with something new and uncharted, then you will wake up scared (in a good way!) and excited about what lies ahead. But, if you are just maundering on through life (even if you have a good-paying job), then you are waking up to a day that is already defined for you. Try getting in a state of waking up scared and see how your life becomes much more interesting and challenging. Sir Edmond Hillary, who was the first (with Tensing Norgay) to conquer Mt. Everest, had failed in his first two attempts to scale that peak. But, each time he vowed to that peak by telling it, you are just a mountain peak and are not growing; I am a human being growing every day, and I’ll conquer you one day soon!
4. Help someone: The best way to empower yourself and discover your inner potential is to help someone in a direction that you want to grow. If you are out of work, help another jobless person with something that they can appreciate. Help them with a connection, job lead, or some help that they can use in their job search. Same thing applies to other facets of your life. Do not focus on what you don’t have, but focus on what you can give.
5. Volunteer: Find some worthy cause to volunteer your time. Not only can you find something to give by volunteering, but you can also learn something that is otherwise difficult to get. For example, if you need experience in the social-media space, then volunteer your time for an organization that can benefit from someone who can help the organization get social media exposure. In the process you’ll learn a new skill that you can claim on your résumé.
6. Audit your skills: In your own professional life uncover what skills will help you move ahead and find avenues to get those skills. Take a new course at a local college. Join a Toastmaster’s Club.
7. Surround yourself with the best: One of the best ways to challenge yourself is to surround yourself with people better than you. Identify your role-models and bring them in your network. Associate with them and learn from them. In today’s world of people’s penchant for the social media it is much easier to connect with people you find worthy through both their professional and personal social networks. Then invest your time staying on top of those relationships.
8. Strive for excellence: Merely showing up where the action is does not give you the edge to be the best at what you do. You must keep your focus on excellence by going above and beyond and continuously learning how you can do even better the next time around. This drive for continuous improvement and for doing your best at each opportunity will make you excellent at what you do. Mediocrity is the handrail of the lazy! Those striving for excellence always give their 100% at what they do. So, go that extra mile and surprise yourself!
9. Do something new: Take on a new challenge and learn to conquer something you have not done before.
10. Champion a Cause: Commit yourself to some worthy cause and become an advocate for that cause. This cause should fire-up your passions and should make you come alive when you are engaged in it. In so engaging you will discover your own calling and galvanize yourself with new energy!
Personal transformations are one of the hardest challenges one can undertake. But, by revisiting your everyday actions today and by following the ideas presented here, you will find that such transformations can make you alive again!
Happy New Year!