Making Lasting Change

We all have moments in life where we have an epiphany about something, learn something new or develop a situation which instigates change.

We have all also experienced making a change for a period of time only to revert back to old habits or even lose motivation to make changes before we start.

This month I want to talk about what steps we need to take, to use our initial motivation to implement a plan that will carry you through to make the lasting changes you desire.

Step 1: Know Your Why?

Step 2: Write Down Your Desired Goal

Step 3: Divide this Goal into 10 Measurable, Achievable steps

Step 4: Spend Time Reflecting on Your Success

 Let’s break this down.

 Your WHY!

Firstly you need to know why you have this habit you are trying to change in the first place. What is your emotional connection to this habit.

Examples

Eating sugary food - tired/exhausted, quick pick me up

Smoking or Coffee - 5mins to stop and chill

TV - mindless/brain escape

Secondly you then need to discover WHY you want to make the change. This why has to outweigh the first why or your motivation will lag and the old habit has a greater chance of re-entering your life. Write this ‘why’ down.

 Write Down Your Desired Goal

This step is very important. Once you have identified your ‘Why’ you now need to define your goal posts. Make the goal a box that can be ticked, a milestone that can be celebrated. So write down your goal underneath your ‘why’.

Examples

Quit Sugar for 6 months

Quit Smoking or Coffee

Watch no more than 1hr of TV per day

 Divide this Goal into 10 Measurable, Achievable Steps

This is the absolute key to Making Lasting Change! So often we decide to make a change and we go ‘bull at a gate’ into it. And we manage through sheer grit, determination and initial motivation to stick to our change for a short period of time - days, weeks and then we become exhausted by white knuckle controlling this change and we give up. Now we can be very creative with this giving up process there innumerable reasons why we just couldn’t maintain this change.

So how do we prevent this burn out - Divide the Goal into 10 Steps. Take the time to write down detailed, clear, measurable and achievable steps.

Examples

Sugar

Week 1 - Cut out soft drink

Week 2 - Cut out chocolates and lollies

Week 3 - Cut out desserts/after meal sweets

Week 4 - Cut out biscuits, cakes and bakery treats

Week 5 - Cut out sugary cereals and putting sugar on any cereals

Week 6 - Cut out sugar in your tea and coffee

Week 7 - Cut out all condiments containing sugar

Week 8 - Remove recipes containing sugar from your menu

Week 9 - Remove every item in your fridge and pantry containing sugar

Week 10 - You have successfully dropped sugar from your diet - Continue eating and drinking this way for 6 months

 Spend Time Reflecting on Your Success

Pause and reflect each day or week and review how well you have maintained the change step you are currently on. If you’ve had a slip up don’t throw in the towel, grab out your Why and your Goal, reread them and remind yourself of your motivation and tomorrow is a new day but also every minute is new. Just make the next right choice for you.

Celebrate your success, share your success with a supportive person and be grateful for and compassion to Yourself!

My new goal is to create a single use plastic free household!

My step 1 - Don’t buy any fruit or veg wrapped in plastic

Let’s all Make Lasting Changes for creating our best self, world and experience.