Introduction
Most people, at some point, will face a decision. To become better or stay the same. These individuals find themselves at a crossroads, like I did. Embrace a new beginning or fight change. I chose to embrace a new beginning, and today I want to provide you with a roadmap to start your journey. I come from a place of humility and understanding, as I am still in the beginning phases of this journey myself. But together, we can tackle this. We can take change head on and change our lives for the better.
In this article, I will discuss tips, thought patterns and resources to help you get started. This journey is long, arduous, and may very well be lifelong, but the reward you will get from it will be more than worth it. You will get to watch your life change before your eyes, and you will see yourself slowly becoming the person you always wanted to be.
Let’s get started.
Create you version 2.0
Let’s face it. You have years of unresolved trauma, angst, and anxiety, possibly carried with you from childhood. Or even adulthood. The first phase of this journey begins with defining the 2.0 you, a term coined by self-help influencer Clark Kegley. This phase is all about discovering what you want out of life. What your goal is, and what your dreams are.
For me it is very simple: Build the best life I can for the beautiful, kind, compassionate, loving, selfless woman I am lucky enough to have in my life. Your dream doesn’t even have to be that complicated. It can be as simple as practicing good self-care with your mental health. Whatever is important to you.
How do you do this? Journal.
Every. Fluffin. Day.
The more you get your thoughts on paper, the more you will be able to see patterns. You will be able to see what is important to you. Having this knowledge will help you define your dream, and your goals that will get you there. If you don’t know where you are going, you can’t define how you are going to get there.
If you are like I was when I first started journaling, you can try these journal prompts. Trust me, prompts help. A lot.
I would suggest that you do AT LEAST 30 days of journaling before you move on to the next phase of this process.
So, you journaled. Now what?
Now we get to work. What common themes do you see that are important to you.
Is it your mental health? Is it your family? Is it your spouse? Your kids? Your career? To overcome anxiety? Financial independence? To have fun?
What do you see as the overarching theme in your journal entries?
Take the top three overarching themes and turn them into goals. S.M.A.R.T. goals specifically. S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. See the video below for a tutorial on how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Goals are good, but how do I achieve them?
This is the next step. Actually, achieving your goals. Remember, we set S.M.A.R.T. goals. They are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. This will allow us to break our goals down into smaller milestones.
By breaking these goals down into smaller milestones, we can show our brain that we are getting closer to achieving our life goals every day.
Given that the human brain is very dopamine hungry (dopamine is a key component of motivation), this helps us move closer to our goals and celebrate the little wins that make up the larger goal.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
After you achieve your first goal. Set another one. You may think to yourself, “What if I run out of goals?”. You will not run out of goals. After every achievement, you will move into a new phase of life. This means new problems to solve and new obstacles to tackle. This means more goals.
Conclusion
Follow these steps and you will start to see changes in your life. They will be small, and gradual, but one percent changes every day do compound. And they compound into a better life.