A lot of us make huge new years resolutions and decide to make huge changes in our lives, and usually, it never works. Trying to change your life completely is usually a recipe for failure. If you had the strength to change your life completely, you would have done it years ago and it would be a non-issue. So, what is the alternative? Well, you can start changing your life in small ways. Just one small step at a time, and break it into easy pieces that you can swallow. Here are some easier ones that you can start with, and work your way up.
Sleep
Ok, we know you probably don’t want to go to bed early but, you need to get 8 hours of sleep a day, however you do it. If you want to get up in the morning and feel refreshed, and not dragging yourself out of bed like a zombie, start timing your sleep. If you have to get up at 6 am, make sure you are in bed to sleep by 9:30. That gives you 30 minutes grace period to get to sleep. It will make a difference in your life.
Meditate
This only takes 5 minutes, though you will probably work up to 15 minutes over time. Just sit and breathe slowly and listen to your breath, be in the moment and feel how it feels to breathe. That’s it, simple. It will also make a huge difference in your life, even if you don’t believe us, just try it for a month.
Affirmations
This is old school, and I am sure you have heard it before. It might sound silly, but it comes under the heading of fake it until you make it. Say to yourself every morning and at times in the day, what you want to achieve. If you want more confidence? Say out loud that you will be more confident, and visualize it as you say it. Put your heart into it, not just say the words. It’s the emotional content behind the words that is important.
Be thankful
Start your day with a moment of being thankful. Actually, any time you feel negative in the day, just do it again. Imagine and feel all the good things you have in your life, and be thankful for them. What this does is focus you on being positive and not negative. Life is hard enough as it is, and drowning in negativity always will just make life painful, so better to focus on the positive when you can.
Pay attention
Sometimes it’s as simple as that. Many people just drift through life and don’t really look around them. Try and pay attention. Maybe set an alarm on your phone and when it goes off ask yourself if you are paying attention to the world around you. The people, the area, everything. Just start trying to pay attention to yourself and the world around you.
Can, not can’t
Going back to the negativity thing we mentioned in affirmations. Whenever you find yourself saying you can’t, try and change it to you can, even if not right now. Saying I can’t go to sleep early, will start to make it a fact. Saying you can go to sleep early, but you might have to figure out how, makes it a possibility. Saying can’t closes the door on everything. Just start avoiding the word and come up with a different way to say it that leaves an option.
Budget
Most of the stresses and problems of our world are unfortunately money, that is usually the root of it. Money or love. Well, we don’t have enough room to give you love advice, but we can give you some basic money advice. Make a budget. Make a budget and stick to it, make it your bible. Set part of it for discretionary money, such as that you might spend for fun, but the money that you have to spend with no choice, such as rent and utilities, have to come first. Make a solid budget, and follow it, and you will find your stresses over money are greatly reduced. And if your budget won’t cover things, then at least you know you need to find a new job or downsize.
These are just some simple things that you can do that can set the stage for changing your life. Just break things down into pieces you can handle, and suddenly you will find that other things become easier. The closer you get to your goals, the easier it becomes. By focusing on the solution, and not the problem, you can change your life. Start small and big things will come.
