Ever wondered how to get your life back on track? This article is here to guide you. Whether it’s about returning to a healthy routine, redefining your priorities, or completely overhauling your life, we’ve got you covered.
But regardless of why you want to get your life back on track, being able to move forward and make significant positive changes is never a bad thing.
If you want to regain control over your life and make some impactful life adjustments to change your course, read on.
Pinpoint Your Goal or Aims
Before embarking on your journey of change, it’s vital to have a clear understanding of your destination. Take a moment to articulate your plans or goals. This will serve as your compass, guiding you toward positive changes and setting you up for success.
If you don’t have specific goals or can’t think of any, look at the things you want to change. Do you want to break a bad habit? Changing jobs? Learn a new language? Get out of debt? Move away from where you currently live? These can then be turned into goals to hit that you can use for the next step.
Make A Plan
Next, make yourself a plan for how you can get from where you are now to where you want to be. What steps are involved? Do you need additional training for work purposes to move to a new career or to push for promotions? Or do you want to improve health and fitness? Move homes? Buy property? Travel the world?
Make a step-by-step list of what you need to do to move forward and assign a timeline to help you progress rather than remain static.
This way, if you are setting yourself time goals to reach, you can keep motivated and moving forward with changes.
Identify Any Triggers or What Is Holding You Back
So now that you know what you want your life to look like and what you want to change, you need to address why you haven’t been able to make changes until this point. It might be that you didn’t realize you wanted to or needed to until this point, which is fine within itself. But other times, there may be a roadblock in your way in the form of a lack of finances, opportunities, knowledge, or even people and circumstances holding you back.
And while you might not be able to eliminate them right now, you need to know what they are so you can be prepared for any challenges or changes you make or to overcome sabotage attempts either from life itself or others around you.
Add It To Your Calendar
If changing your life is that much of a priority, and you really want to push yourself, then add your tasks to a calendar. Whatever it might be, you need to schedule it and treat it like an important appointment so you can create time and space to focus on this. It doesn’t matter what it is, even if changing your life means you’re decluttering your home to help you improve your living space, schedule time in your calendar to do nothing else but the task at hand.
Create New Habits and Patterns of Behavior
Coupling changes with an existing behavior is a great way to ensure you do something new. Let’s say that you want to commit to meditate each night before bed to help you manage stress levels and improve your sleeping habits. You need to incorporate a bedtime routine that looks the same each night so you can fall into a new pattern. Let’s say you brush your teeth every night before and then wash your face, then put your pajamas on; keep doing the same thing as you always do, but add on meditation to the end before you get into bed. Making new changes part of an existing routine can be a great way to build up successful habits that can facilitate you moving forward.
Be Flexible
When it comes to making changes, it’s not just about the changes themselves but also about your ability to adapt when life throws you a curveball. Be prepared to adjust your plans and schedules when unexpected events occur. This flexibility is a key part of your journey towards positive changes, making you more adaptable and resilient in the face of life’s unpredictability.
Can’t make it to the gym after work like you planned or usually do? No worries. What can you do instead? Can you take an extra walk? Fit in some squats somewhere in your day or a quick 10-minute intense circuit to get the blood pumping.
Instead of being defeated when things don’t go according to plan, go with it and see what changes you can make to help you still keep working towards your goals, even if they’re not going as planned.
Get Support
Support is a crucial element in any change process. Whether it’s the encouragement of family and friends or the expertise of professionals, don’t hesitate to seek help. They can provide the necessary guidance and accountability to keep you on track for positive changes.
If you need the help of professionals who can support you in making changes, be clear about the type of help you need. Be it a financial advisor or debt underfloor who is working with you to get your finances back on track, an educator who is helping you progress in a new charter change, or someone who can help you check yourself into rehab to get the help you need to deal with substance abuse disorders or get mental health treatment so you can move forward.
Change your Mindset
Instead of making excuses for why you can’t or couldn’t do something, look at what you can do instead. Making drastic changes is never easy, but if you focus on the small things you can do rather than what you can’t do, then you’re already making progress.
Can’t bankroll your changes yet? No problem looking for free resources you can use or accumulate to help you get started until you can fund bigger changes. Don’t have the time or skill set? Look at what you do have by way of free time or activities in your life you adjust and slot in even short 10-minute bursts to help you build the skills you need or create the time you don’t have incrementally until you get to a place where you have done that thing you didn’t think you could do. With change comes hard decisions, and one of the hardest things to do is change your mindset and how you approach your life.
Remember, it’s not about achieving perfection but about making progress. Instead of dwelling on what you can’t do, focus on the small steps you can take toward your goals. This mindset shift will keep you motivated and optimistic on your journey towards positive changes. One quick way to avoid failure is to simply remove the need to always be perfect in your life.
If changing your life involves eating cleaner and healthier, but you don’t want to give up that weekly meal with your friends or parents at your favorite restaurant, then don’t. Being perfect 80% of the time and being happy is much better and easier to stick with than forcing yourself to be 100% perfect 100% of the time and being miserable.
Things won’t be perfect all the time, and life isn’t perfect, so removing the pressure on yourself to have things figured out and for them to run according to plan all the time will prevent you from setting yourself up for failure. So relax, aim for consistency over perfection, allow yourself the chance to enjoy the journey rather than resent it, and watch how you can enrich your life in so many more beneficial ways.
