Make a Decision to Change

We've probably all heard the truism, "If you keep doing what you've always done you'll keep getting what you've always got."

It's such a basic truth that it is often largely ignored yet, failing to make the right decisions can keep us in the same old place or even change our circumstancees for the worse.

We say we want to be more successful. That's admirable but how will we become more successful? By living on a day-to-day basis pretty much the same as we always have?

In order to make any significant change in your life, you must first make a decision to change the things you do on a daily basis to create a "successful person." Remember, if you don't have the success you want and deserve, it's because you haven't been doing the right things to create the success.

To change, you must first make a decision to change. Carefully go over what you do each day looking for things you do daily (habits) that are not productive. Do you waste time with unproductive or even detrimental involvements with negative friends, watching too much TV, following all the latest news, worrying about ___ (fill in the blank_) or spending time chatting on or off the internet that should be spent doing something productive?

If you want to have significant changes in your life you must make significant decisions about what you'll do to change. What are the things you do now that are procuctive? What are your daily or habitual actions that are unproductive? Think through your average day and week. What can you change to make your time more productive? Make a plan to minimize or eliminate those things which take up your time that do not get you closer to the life you envision for yourself.

A word of caution here, don't try to change everything at once. Your present habits have taken you months or years to establish. If you try to change everything at once you'll overwhelm yourself, get discouraged, and give up. Take one or two of the actions you've become used to doing regularly that are not helpful and make a decision to replace them with productive activities. Make this a priority. Give the new activities daily attention. Make sure to keep the new behavior in mind. Be aware of what you're trying to establish as a new habit and why it's important. 

If you're consistent in your efforts to change, soon you'll find that the new behavior has become a habit and has replaced the old one. Then work on something else. Your personality wasn't built in a day. You cannot completely change in a day either. Start building the "new you," one or two blocks at a time.

But - start now.