HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE

So you want to change your life? 

I don’t know how you ended up on this website, reading these words, but I do know you are looking for something. 

Maybe your back is against the wall, and you decided to google “How to change your life”? 

Maybe you are stuck, maybe you tried to change your life, but things got hard, so you quit. 

Maybe you are stuck in limbo, you are doing ok, but you can’t seem to get that breakthrough that you are looking for. 

The reality of changing your life is that it’s easier said than done. Is it possible to change your life? Yes, it’s possible to embrace self-improvement and totally transform your life. 

However, many people fail to change their lives in a meaningful way. But why do they fail? More importantly, how can we avoid failure and get the life we want? 

Today I’m going to answer those questions. Let’s take a look at how you can start changing your life today: 

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE TODAY, AND FOR GOOD

1. Stop Being A Dabbler 

What is a dabbler? Two dictionary definitions say the following: 

“A person who follows a pursuit without attaining proficiency or professional status” 

“One not deeply engaged in or concerned with something.” 

These are formal definitions of what a dabbler is, but let’s look at a more simple explanation of what dabbling with life means in terms of you changing your life.  

To do this, let’s look at an analogy. Let’s imagine for a minute that the game of life is a river. A very cold river, and to play the game of life requires you to get in the water and swim.  

But what do most people do when they try to change their lives? They walk up to the river of life and put their foot in the water to feel how cold it is.  

They soon realize the water is freezing and that stream is quite strong. So they take out their foot and go back to their warm homes. Then they can tell everyone that they tried, but it didn’t work out.  

But let me tell you the reality of the game of life. The people that win don’t dabble. They go all in. They do not do half-measures. They jump into the cold icy water and immerse themselves. They calm themselves, breathe, and start swimming to the other side. They are committed to doing whatever it takes to reach their goals and live the life of their dreams. 

You have to commit and stop dabbling. This is the only way to change your life. 

2. Find Specialized Knowledge 

There is an old saying, “Standing on the shoulders of giants.”This is exactly what you need to do to go to the next level in life.  

You need to realize that you don’t need to reinvent everything. You can listen and learn from the greatest minds that ever walked this planet. You can also find specialized knowledge in whatever field you work in to speed up your growth and development. 

We are very fortunate to have knowledge and experience at our fingertips. The internet made it possible for us to find knowledge like this website you are reading now, with a simple google search. Suddenly you are exposed to powerful ideas that have the potential to plant seeds in your mind that can transform your life.  

So don’t try to go it alone, you must invest in yourself by reading blogs, books, online courses, etc. To be competitive in this modern world you need to take your self-education very seriously. Socrates was right when he said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” 

3. Use Your Past Pain 

Don’t ever forget that your greatest success will be found in your greatest pain, disappointments, and heartbreaks. This might sound crazy to many but it’s the truth.  

Go look at some of the greatest people that ever walked this planet and most of them would say that the thing that sparked it all for them was some kind of pain or trauma from their past. 

Your past should not be something you are obsessed about, but if it’s channeled correctly, it has the power to drive you to excel in whatever field you choose to go into.  

The most powerful forces in the human mind are pain and pleasure. Advertisers know this very well. So don’t totally push down your past.

Find something that you can look at from your past and allow it to fuel you. Allow it to drive you to work when others are sleeping. Let it give you the hunger to do work when others are partying. Become that guy or girl that leads the way, by channeling that energy so that it transforms your life. 

4. Do The Work When No One Is Watching 

Most people who try to change their lives fail because they run out of steam when their initial motivation fades. Because here is the reality: When you start your mission to change your life, you will get very excited. Maybe you read a book, watched a movie, or found some other motivation. So you got so excited that you went out there and told the world that you will change. 

So you take that excitement, and you start your first day, and then the first week goes by. But soon, that excitement starts to fade, and you feel the initial motivation disappearing like a ghost at night.  

So here is the question that you must ask yourself because I promise you it will happen to you: What are you going to do when the lights go off and it’s just you? When everyone’s out partying and having a great time, and you are alone working. What are you going to do? Are you going to call it a day because you feel lonely or uncomfortable?  

The people that overcome this reality know that this initial excitement will fade when the reality of hard work confronts them, they are ready for it.  

How do they overcome it? Well, they all have the tools that they can get. They make vision boards so that their vision is constantly in their minds. They create morning rituals to give them momentum into the day. They write down their goals every morning and evening. They do all these things to constantly remind themselves why they do what they do. They do all of this, and they find ways to develop their mental fortitude so that they keep moving forward when the going gets tough.  

The human mind has the potential to be an incredible soldier for you if you train it correctly and use self- discipline to control it. But if you allow your mind to aimlessly drift when you are supposed to be doing the work then you will fail. 

5. Who Dares Wins 

You have probably heard the words “Who Dares Wins.” These famous words are the motto of the British Special Air Service or SAS. The SAS is the United Kingdom’s Elite Special Operations Unit. The first time I heard their motto, “Who Dares Wins,” I realized these guys are sharing with us the truth of winning in life.  

This truth is a reality that many miss or refuse to accept. The reality is this: If you want to change your life or reach your goals, then you must be willing to step out of your comfort zone and take calculated risks. 

I’m not saying you should do reckless or stupid things, I’m saying you should step into areas of life that make you uncomfortable. This is the only way to get what you want. 

It was Einstein who once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Einstein was 100% correct with these words, you can’t expect to change your life if you keep on doing the exact same things over and over.  

Step out of your comfort zone and remember, “Who dares wins.” 

6. Become A Professional  

There is one final piece to this puzzle of changing your life, and it’s the following non-negotiable reality:  

You must become a professional. What do I mean by being a professional? It means you must change all aspects of how you conduct yourself. You must reject mediocrity and embrace excellence. 

If you want to make your dreams a reality, then you must transform who you are at the deepest level. That means raising your standards in everything you do. That is the core of being a professional.  

At a more practical level, a professional conducts himself at a very high standard. A professional lives a disciplined life. He or she has their days, weeks, and months planned out. They don’t wake up and ask themselves, “What am I doing today?”. No, this is not how a professional operates. 

If you want to know how a professional conducts himself look at some of the greatest sports professionals that walked the earth. Look at Michael Jordan, Kobe, and Tom Brady. Those guys weren’t just competitive on the field but also off it.  

When they weren’t playing or practicing, they would study other sports to get better with their own game. They would do everything they could to get an edge on their opponents. When others would sleep, they would be grinding, when others were partying, they found new ways to win. This might sound extreme, but this is what it takes to become great. This is what it takes to transform your life. 

So how do you start this process of becoming a professional in the game of life? Most of you reading might be expecting a very complicated answer, but it’s not. It’s very simple but massively important: 

You must realize that with every decision you make, you are competing. The decisions you make will shape your destiny. It’s the small daily actions that you take or don’t take that will make the biggest difference long-term. 

Let’s look at some examples of daily choices that can make or break your success in life: 

• Should I go to that party tonight? 
• Should I eat this pizza?
• Should I sleep for another hour? 
• Should I go for a run? 
• Should I drink a few beers tonight? 
• Should I make a few sales calls today? 
• Should I write that essay? 
• Should I take this weekend off? 
• Should I take a break today? 

These are the types of questions that seem like just normal everyday questions that run through your mind. But the reality is that these small daily, seemingly unimportant choices are shaping who you become.

Self-Discipline + Excellence

Remember, the actions you consistently take shape your future and the person you will become. And this brings us back to being professional. A professional consistently makes the right choices over a long period of time.  

Sure, they make mistakes, but the majority of the time, they get guided by their iron self-discipline. This self-discipline is a culture of excellence in their lives. This culture gets built by being conscious of doing the small things right and consistently holding yourself to a higher standard than anyone could possibly expect.  

A professional is the type of person who, when things are bad,and everyone would understand if he didnt show up, he still shows up and does whatever needs to be done. This is the mindset of being a real professional in life.  

If you can mold yourself into becoming a professional, you will change your life. The transformation is inevitable because there is a very powerful force that controls this world, and it’s called cause and effect. 

Once you embrace cause and effect, it becomes very hard to stop you. Once you become the cause of your world, the effect will become inevitable.  

Now you need to ask yourself: What are you going to do? Are you going to accept mediocrity or step into excellence? Your choice! 

Conclusion 

You now know how to change your life. All you have to do is follow these guidelines. Remember, changing your life is a process that will take time to accomplish, but the decision to put this process in motion can happen in a second.

So, make a decision, take out a notebook, and write down what it is you want to do with your life. Then get up and start taking action on that first thing. It’s that simple. Start today! 

STRIVE