Baby Steps, Big Changes

Do you want to make a change? Change doesn't come easy. Anything worth doing usually requires work. Ask yourself why you need to make a change. Why do any of us?

If you need to make changes, life isn't perfect. Something about life isn't working well. That fact applies to anyone chasing better for themselves, and couldn't we all benefit from a little better in our lives?

How we affect change in our lives is a million-dollar question. Change is hard. To begin with, most people don't like change. People like being comfortable, and change takes them out of their comfort zone.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

Nelson Mandela

Sometimes change means taking the smallest of steps toward doing things differently. By making small changes, you begin the road to your best life. That is the dream, right?

Insignificant Changes That Lead To A Different Person

Look at the changes you can make. If there are a few changes you need to make, things won't seem as daunting. What if there is a lot that needs changing? If you are at a point nothing works, it can be overwhelming.

Consider making small, insignificant changes to your routine to get you started. Commit to keeping them smaller at first. While you make the smaller changes, pick other things you recognize need work. Make a list of things you want to fix in your life, from the smallest to the largest or most significant.

Ways to Start Small

Once you have committed, then it's time to start. This is the challenging part. You've already committed the energy to thinking about your life. You've stressed about the things that aren't where you want them to be. Now, it's time to start working on painting that better picture of your life.

Examples of small changes:

Morning routines. How you start your day is important. Do you have a morning routine? If not, look at some examples of morning routines that you might adjust to with a little effort.

Make your bed: Are you making your bed each morning? A made bed looks nicer than a rumpled one and detracts from the appearance of clutter. It looks more organized. Half of the problems we encounter as adults can be traced to our organizational skills.

Eating breakfast: If you're allowing yourself to start your day off on an empty stomach, and you're not intermittent fasting or on a diet plan, then you are creating a potential distraction for later. Distractions keep you from focusing on your goals, and being unfocused can be part of your problems. A healthy, balanced, breakfast is fuel to help you get through your day and tackle the challenges of the world.

Get out of bed an hour earlier: Doing this may not seem like much. However, do this every day for a week. Ask yourself how much more you can accomplish with one extra hour a day. You can find time to read that self-help book, keep up on current events, squeeze in an hour of hobby time, try meditation, or make the beginning of your day feel less rushed.

Exercise: It's recommended that people get regular exercise along with things like a good night's sleep. Exercise helps to center you, keep your body in shape, and burn calories. The stress of our days can be alleviated by getting an additional 30 to 60 minutes of moderate exercise three to four times a week.

Meditation: Meditation is a skill that people can learn online or from the various books and resources available. Quietly sitting, stretching, and focusing on yourself is part of being mindful. Just 30 minutes of meditation can help to keep you focused, centered and help you to cope with what's stressing you.

Self-Education: Always be learning. It's easy to say, and yet people struggle to find the time. Start out small. Find an interest and set aside blocks of time in the morning. Even 20 minutes at a time, done consistently, can be enough to keep your mind active and your skills growing. Some people read for fifteen minutes a day, rather than long stretches, and they learn what's new in a subject, what's hot in crypto, or what the latest updates are in their profession.

Organize your day: In the mornings, set aside 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of the day. Long enough to sit down and plan out your day. Look over your schedule, note meetings, and appointments, and keep them organized so you don't have to remember them later.

There you have it, the first steps to change. Change is hard, scary, and a bunch of other words that don't mean anything good. This is also true about life. But, anybody that's ever contemplated a change knows that it's because change is needed.

We live in a world that has spun out of control. It's easy for our lives to spin equally out of control. What needs to happen, sometimes, is we grab ahold of our situation and get it back on track. We have to take the responsibility to remember, always be evolving, be willing to change, and adapt to the situation.

It doesn't have to be overwhelming. Take those baby steps, and then you can conquer the problems with those big changes.