Time to Make a Fresh Start?
Do you sometimes wish you could just flip a switch and make everything better? You know the feeling. You take a long, hard look at your life and recognise that things just haven’t worked out the way you hoped they would. It’s a feeling that most people encounter. There are gaps in your achievements. There are areas of disappointment. There are regions of your life that you can only honestly label as unfulfilling - and you begin to ask yourself what went wrong.
We’re all familiar with the old tradition of marking the New Year with various personal commitments to improve ourselves. We’re also familiar with the fact that most New Year’s resolutions are notorious for failing to survive to the end of January! But why wait until the New Year to take stock of your life? After all, there’s no time like the present for taking action. What could be stopping us from taking steps to improve our situation right now?
The fact is that most of us don’t take time to consider where we are or where we’re going. We become so preoccupied with the daily distractions and challenges of everyday life that we easily lose sight of the bigger picture. And even when the challenges rise up and overwhelm us, we rarely take a step back to take stock of where we are and evaluate what we’re doing.
It is never too late to be what you might have been
—George Eliot
Part of the problem is that we’re creatures of habit. We tend to follow familiar patterns of behaviour and that means that we feel compelled do the same things, think the same thoughts and express the same emotions – because life seems to be easier that way. The patterns require less effort, less analysis, less introspection and less stress. We like to minimise the effort required to run our lives – regardless of the outcomes we achieve.
So, the first step on the road to a fresh start is to stop everything you’re doing and take a break. That’s right. You need some space to breathe so that you can take a cool, objective look at where you are right now. Which particular areas are causing you dissatisfaction?
This is where it can be very helpful to make notes. So, grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down any concerns you’re experiencing about the state of your life.
The first step towards getting somewhere
is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.
—???J.P. Morgan
Clearly, if you’re planning on creating different results in your life, you’ll need to be prepared to take a fresh approach and do things differently. Does that make sense to you? This is one of the areas where many people struggle because they instinctively gravitate towards the old, familiar ways of doing things. Do you recall the old definition of insanity? The one that states that madness is when you to continue to repeat the same actions again and again yet somehow expect to create a different result? It’s a timely reminder that if we are serious about achieving new and different outcomes, we need to change what we do and how we do it.
And this leads us neatly to our next area of interest.
It’s widely accepted that if we change our actions, we can change the results we achieve. Different input produces different results. Nothing controversial about that. But this concept is based on the understanding that you’re already comfortable with the new results you’re aiming to accomplish. Can you spot the potential problem here? If you’re not happy with the new situation you say you want to create, there’s a very high probability that you’ll find all kinds of ways to defeat your own objectives. Does that surprise you?
We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can reveal itself.
—Joseph Campbell
Many a fine plan and campaign for victory have been sabotaged before the first step was taken because the protagonists didn’t believe in the outcome. If you don’t carry the belief that you can achieve your aims, or if you doubt whether you even deserve to enjoy the fruits of success, you will find ways to quit, to derail your plans, to create obstacles and to fail in your attempts. It’s human nature. There’s nothing really new or surprising in this observation. It’s been a well-documented facet of the human condition for countless thousands of years. In other words, your beliefs are just as important to your success as the actions you take to deliver on your chosen goals and ambitions.
When you state your aims, take a moment to reflect on how you feel. Do you detect any hints of discomfort? Do you really believe you can accomplish your goals? Do you feel excited at the prospect of improving your life? Or do you sense something more negative? These are important clues about how your plans are likely to unfold. Perhaps you will derive greater benefit from examining your beliefs before you embark on a new campaign for success. Align your actions with your feelings and you’ll recruit the vast resources of your emotional energy. And then your fresh start will encounter far less resistance and much greater chances of fulfilment.
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Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.
—Meister Eckhart
Are you ready for a completely fresh approach to life’s great adventure? Get in touch with us today for a free session to discover how the growing global movement for personal growth, success, change and empowerment can enhance your life. It’s fun and it’s surprisingly effective. Perhaps it’s time for you to discover how you can enjoy your life on a whole new level of happiness and wellbeing.
Greg Parry created The Wellness Foundation and the Cognitive Empowerment Programs specifically to help people master their stress, overcome their limitations and explore the power of their true potential.
If you enjoy these blogs, you can imagine how much fun it is to have Greg in the room as an inspirational and highly perceptive speaker. If you’d like to invite Greg to talk to your company or organisation or event, feel free to get in touch.
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