Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes!

By Steven Foster, MD, George Thomas International

“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.”
William Arthur Ward

Decide to change, that’s all you have to do. It’s a simple enough thing. Pick a street in any town in the world, throw a stone and the chances are you’ll hit someone who is unhappy with their lot, who thinks they deserve more, who wants something else from life.
Incredibly it’s a lot more difficult to find someone who is prepared to actually do something about it, who is brave enough to make a change and actively decide on a future they’ll feel happier with.
The motivation for change comes from understanding that we are masters of our own destiny. We decide. We chose. We can be what we want to be, all we have to do is want to be it. And act accordingly.
Success is a skill we can learn. In fact it’s one we can teach ourselves. By starting out with small, achievable goals we can see the fruits of our own labours every day, These will spur us on to even greater things.
But before any of that can happen, you have to realise that you can bring about that change.
Once you have decided to make your world a better place everything gets a lot more straightforward.
Start with the end-point in mind and work backwards. Knowing where you want to be in life is the first step to getting there. So, for once, the best course of action is to start at the end. Decide what you want, define it as clearly as you can, ask yourself why you want it, get to know how it would make you feel to have achieved it.
Then you need to break it down into a course of action. What are you going to do to help you achieve that goal? What needs to happen in your life? How are you going to make those things happen?
Write them down, then write them down again, and again until that plan of action becomes as familiar to you as your own face.
Then break it down even further. Create a list of what you need to do to fulfill the demands of each stage of the plan. Give yourself small tasks that you can achieve every day as you take the action that will lead you to your goal.
The important thing is to constantly reward yourself along the way as you find the courage and determination to tackle the next step. Even the tiniest action contributes to the momentum you’re building up that will bring about change and the reward of crossing each achievement off your list will spur you on to tackle the next.
Teach yourself to see how you look, both now and in the future having achieved your goal. Visualise yourself having achieved your goal, get used it how it feels to be living your dream, smell your own success, touch it, know what it is actually like and see how your loved ones and close friends react to you. Then try viewing yourself in a few years time if you do nothing. Feel the weight of your own dissatisfaction, listen to your own breathing and feel the pained expression on your face.
It’s not really that tough a choice is it?
There are lots of things that will help you on your way, not least your own understanding of what you’re doing. But try to avoid negative, cynical people; instead surround yourself with positive messages and encouraging people that inspire you. You’ll be surprised at how much energy you have for your greatest ever project – you.

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