How to Change Anything About Your Life
Change is hard. Change is often feared. However, change can actually be good for us especially if we're trying to stop a bad habit or trying to start something new like a diet or saving money. But how do you really change anything especially when you consider that most people can't just flip a switch and suddenly start doing things differently?Flipping a switch is not really how the human mind works. Changing anything in your life is a process.You have to go through several steps before you can see lasting change in your life. Once you understand the process of change and how your mind can be reprogrammed, you'll have the ability to change anything that you don't like about your life.
Where to Begin
First you must understand that past conditioning determines every thought that comes in to your mind. To change the conditions of your future you must "restart" your mind and update and/or upgrade your programming. Another important thing to remember is that there is always a constant battle going on in your mind. When the mind is faced with choosing between emotion and logic, emotion almost always win.Your subconscious conditioning determines your thinking which determines your decisions. Your decisions then determine your actions which then determine the results that you get.
" Programming Leads to Thoughts. Thoughts lead to Feelings. Feelings Lead to Action. Action Leads to Results." - T. Harv Eker
From T. Harv Eker's bestselling book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: The process of changing or reprogramming yourself involves 4 steps:
Awareness - You must become aware of the issue you want to change
Understanding - You must understanding how your mindset originates
Disassociation - Once aware and understanding your issue you can begin to disassociate yourself from it.
Reconditioning - Rewriting your subconscious thoughts and blueprint
If you're reading this article then I'm sure you are looking to improve your life. For some more great advice from this amazing author, I highly recommend you check out T. Hark Eker's book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (affiliate link).
Step 1: Develop Awareness of What You Wish to Change
The first step to making a change in your life in any particular topic or area is to develop an awareness of what it is that you want to change. You must first acknowledge that there is something that needs to be changed in the first place. Sometimes this involves sitting down and thinking critically about the issues or things in your life that you want to improve. However, sometimes developing an awareness is more challenging. You may need a trusted friend, spouse, relative, or even a professional to make you aware that there's something that you need to change.
However, more often than not the bad habits and things that people need to change about their life are obvious to them. In addition to becoming consciously aware of what you want to change, you also have to have a burning desire to change it. When it comes to bad habits, most people recognize the need to change, however, their body (your emotions) often desires to continue living in their sin. Realizing what needs to change and developing a desire to do so is probably the easiest step in the process to change your life.
Step 2: Understand the Origins of Your Thoughts
The next step that you have to take to eventually have change in your life is to develop an understanding of what exactly causes the problem or the thing that you want to change. In other words, you have to try and figure out why it is you were doing what you were doing in the first place.
For instance, if you're looking to change your diet to something more healthy you need to ask yourself questions like: Why am I eating unhealthy in the first place? When do I eat? Am I eating for more than just hunger? In this case, the answers could be anything from "I like the drive-thru", "I hate cooking", or "I'm depressed", etcetera. When you identify the underlying source of what it is that you want to change, you'll finally be able to overcome it and eventually effectuate permanent and lasting change. Once you attain a full understanding of the cause of the problem, then it's time to move on to disassociating yourself from your past conditioning.
Words to dissassociate yourself from past conditioning
Step 3: Disassociate Yourself from Past Conditioning
Learning to make a permanent change in your life requires that you disassociate yourself from the old habits and the old things that you're trying to get rid of. Start telling yourself that you don't need "that thing" or that you don't like doing "that stuff" anymore. Convince yourself that you are better off with a new habit and a new thought process instead.
When you disassociate yourself from your old ways you begin to delete those old files from your memory and your mind. It will be challenging, especially in the beginning. However, I assure you it will get easier with time. Once you've disassociated yourself with the things you want to get rid of, you can begin to focus on reconditioning your mind.
Step 4: Reconditioning Your Mind
The final step for changing your life is to recondition your mind to accept a new behavior. This often occurs simultaneously with dissociation as replacing any habit or thought process is significantly easier than just eliminating it. For example, I have a friend that quit smoking but replaced his habit with the consumption of gum and sunflower seeds. I know another individual who took to bike riding all over town as a way to combine a fun hobby and a weight loss journey. Even if you don't have a replacement behavior, you'll still need to recondition your mind to accept the void left by disassociating yourself from incorrect thoughts.
Reconditioning your mind is also challenging but it can be accomplished through many methods. You don't necessarily need a boatload of willpower either. In fact, you just need to follow baby steps, making a little bit of progress at a time. Repeat new habits and affirmations over and over until it becomes a permanent part your persona. Rewriting the source code of your mind can also occur when new knowledge is acquired to replace older knowledge or when new experiences supersede those of the past. In either case, new habits can be formed in as little as a few days but most often require several weeks or months of persistent action to become permanent.
Final Thoughts
By following these simple steps you can accomplish everlasting change in almost any area of your life. As I mentioned earlier, change is definitely hard to accomplish. If it were easy then everyone would do it. However, if you break up the change process into small steps, it will be infinitely easier to achieve. With these steps and by setting goals for yourself you will be able to change anything that you want about your life.
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