Did you set your mind on something new for this year?
Any changes or areas of your life you want prioritize or focus on?
I think many of us enjoy the thought of a “fresh start”. And I also recall chatting with a client a few years ago who told me she didn’t find this time of the year (referring to the quietness of the winter) as the best time to set goal and be all go-getter.
Both are such valid points!
Personally, I like to choose a few “areas of focus” (as I call them) for the year. Yet, I also give myself the freedom to make changes anytime of the year. I mean… any day is a good day to do something different or start something new. Who said January 1st is the only chance we get?
So, whether you are set on making some changes in your life now or somewhere down the road, I thought I share with you a tool I use when I want to make a change.
I stumble upon this about 2 years ago when I needed to make a change but found myself slightly paralyzed to go on making the change.
It was something work-related. I needed to make the change and I knew exactly what and how I needed to go about it.
Yet I found myself procrastinating on it (and I’m usually not a procrastinator so this was a bit of a red flag).
What I realized, was that every time I wanted to go on and make the change, my mind would be filled with all the things that changing would require and all the things that I felt I was giving up, or losing by making the change. (In this specific case, it was around how I was spending my time and my perceive notion that I was giving up time doing 1 thing in order to allocate it to the new one).
I was so focused on everything the change would require that I lost track of everything positive making the change would bring about.
I realized in that moment that I was giving way too much air time to what I thought I was giving up, yet not enough to everything good that would came up from making the change. AKA, everything I was going to gain.
In that moment, I realized THAT was the reason why I couldn’t move forward in making the needed change.
So I went ahead and made a list of all the things I would ***gain*** from making the change, versus the things I would “lose”.
Gains were more than triple the (perceived) loses. And right then and there, I found the motivation I needed to take the step I knew I had to take.
This was a very valuable lesson I learnt and it also equip me with a tool I keep going back to use time and again and I can share.
Next time you want to make a change you know is going to be good for you…
Say something related to your health
Or any other aspect of your life where you know change is necessary
Ask yourself this question…
What is there to ***win*** from making this change?
Go ahead and make a list.
And when fear knows on the door wanting to slow you down, grab that list and re-inspire yourself <3
Wishing you all the best for this new & bright year
Pamela