………… to help you get motivated and get moving into your new lifestyle.
One of the biggest challenges we face when we attempt to make big lifestyle transformations is that the gap between where we are right now and where we want to be can be huge! The bigger the gap, the more change that needs to be made, the more likely it is that we will stumble and become discouraged.
Or, in our rush to get to where we want to be, we try to do too much and get bogged down or overwhelmed. When we are already feeling anxious or frustrated or stressed, this can leave us feeling self-critical and reluctant to move forward.
Believe it or not, one of the best ways to successfully accomplish large transformations in your life is through very small turtle steps.
I have pulled together 10 small turtle steps that anyone can start doing right now, today. These steps are easy to do, relatively quick to complete, and can be highly motivating.
So 10 small steps you can take today are:
- Do one thing differently. Take one task that you normally do on a day to day basis but do it differently. If you drive to work via the same route every day, try a different route. If you normally shop in the same grocery store or clothing store, try shopping in one you have never been in before, maybe even in a part of town you have never been to before.
- Do one small thing that makes you feel good. Eat something rich and gooey, buy yourself a bunch of flowers, listen to your favorite song, take a 10 minute nap…..whatever it is, find something that makes you feel good and do it for yourself.
- Change one thing in your environment. Paint a room, declutter a room, clean out your closet, rearrange the furniture in a room, buy a new lamp, plant a flower in your garden…..something that creates an actual change in your environment.
- Create a vision board or a vision journal. Capture images in words or pictures of what you daydream about or of how you want your environment to look like, feel like, sound like, be like.
- Commit an act of creativity. Begin writing in a journal, create a blog, take some photographs, draw a picture, bake a cake…. Often when we feel stressed and frustrated we can lose touch with our creativity. When we lose touch with our creativity, we can find it very challenging to think of what we want to do next, or to generate ideas on what skills and focus we want to build a lifestyle career on.
- Create a positive morning routine. Starting your day by repeating motivational affirmations, or writing in a gratitude journal, or reading a few motivational quotes, or listening to uplifting music, or meditating, or exercising…. can set you up to have a phenomenal day.
- Identify how you want to feel. We can control how we feeling, and can make conscious decisions that will influence how we feel. Identify 5 feelings you would like to feel more of during your day – for example, do you want to feel confident, powerful, grounded, peaceful, happy, affluent, needed…. – and then start creating or participating in activities in both your work and home life that help you feel the way you want to feel.
- Begin learning a new skill. One that will help you be successful in your live and work anywhere lifestyle. Start learning a new language, or computer program, or how to use your new digital camera to make videos. Start learning about who your ideal client will be, how you will connect with them, what do they want to buy that you can sell them. Begin learning about the technologies that you will need to run a virtual business.
- Read a book, watch a movie, or visit a website that inspires and motivates you. Is there a book or movie or website about or by someone that is living the lifestyle you want to live? Read it, watch it, imagine that you are the one living that lifestyle.
- Stop listening to what anyone else has to say about how you should be living your life. Start listening to yourself. You and your body know better than anyone else how you should be living your life. If ‘everyone’ is telling you that you should keep the corporate job with the weekly pay check, the benefits, the cubicle and the boss, but every time you think of your job and going in to work on Monday morning you end up feeling stressed out, frustrated and unable to sleep, then maybe your body is telling you that the corporate job is not what you want. If while you are at work in your cubicle, you keep daydreaming about becoming a travel writer and exploring the world, or living on a farm raising alpacas and goats, then maybe you should take a closer look at these lifestyle careers.
These are only 10 small steps to get you started on your path to designing your uniquely authentic lifestyle.
What else do you do to keep yourself motivated and moving towards your goals?
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