THE KEY TO CHANGE

We often face these situations in life. Situations which urge us to do something new, something different. A new year rolls in, and you plan on transforming yourselves. A new semester starts, and you promise to get better grades this time. You’re celebrating your birthday, and suddenly realize how many years have slipped by. You’ve not reached your potential yet. You can do better than this. And you vow to change.

But change isn’t easy. The older you grow, the more difficult it becomes. Here’s what my experiences have shown me. You don’t initiate change with willpower, you do it with action.

“If nothing around you changes, change the things that are around you.” Tyrese Gibson

Although I lash out against faith time and again, I will say this. Have faith in yourself. Believe in you. Your experiences show that you’ll fail? The odds indicate you’ll fail? Ignore them. They’re untrue. They don’t know you. You can prove them wrong. You know you will.

To change, you have to believe you can change. You have to believe you are changing. Start with small changes. When I decided to focus on my studies, I did a simple thing. I fixed a specific place for study. Kept a water bottle within reach, and put on some music. Jazz and some guitar, nothing with any lyrics. Rather than using earphones, I used speakers, though of course you don’t have to imitate that.

The point I’m trying to make is that I changed my environment. An admittedly effortless change. And it was extremely effective. It gave me a sense of preparation. I felt something new happen, something different. And that encouraged me to initiate further changes, such as actually studying instead of daydreaming.

You can tell yourself you’re going to change, but convincing yourself of that is more difficult, especially if you’ve had situations in which you failed to deliver a promised change.

When something new begins to happen, you break out from the loop. Your life is going on in practically the same way, day after day, year after year, and you need something to push you out of the rut you’ve got yourself in.

A small change prepares, and even encourages, your mind to accept bigger ones. You can ease your way into the change, but ultimately to make a change work, you’ll have to work.

“When all is said and done, more is always said than done.” Drake

Don’t talk about what you plan to do, because the more you talk, the lesser are the chances of you actually getting it done. Boast all you want after you’ve achieved your aim, but not before.

And always remember this little line I came up with and am actually pretty proud of: Changes around you will determine changes about you.