5 Steps Into a New You
The ancestor of every action is a thought. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you struggle with executive function challenges such as ADD, thoughts can be frantic, unbridled and elusive. Do you laugh at people who ask you what your New Year’s Resolution is each year? Your response might be that you don’t “play that game”, since you know all too well that it could not be a sustained change. This can lead you to accept your short term goals and live life by the moment with no long term goals. Yet, many have a deep yearning for more in their life, but they don’t know how to go about seeking lasting change.
I am not saying it is easy or that I have the solution.
What I am saying is that IT IS POSSIBLE with consistently sustained effort and accountability.
Real inner change and paradigm shifts come from a deep burning desire that aligns with your core values.
If you really want a change in your life that is going to help you feel and be successful, read on to steps to launch a new you. Are you are not sure? Ask yourself these questions.
Test your readiness for this endeavor:
On a scale of 1-10. How badly do I want this change?
Sit with your idea for change and explore how the change could make you feel. If I do X, then I would feel this way. If the state of feeling is an improvement to your life, it can fuel your desire for change. When you are connected with your feelings, it will motivate you to take action.
Move on if you rate yourself a 6 or more. No need to go further if you don’t have that deep desire for change.
What am I willing to modify or change in my life to make this happen?
Your current habits and routines are keeping you from reaching the desired change in your life. People spend a lifetime developing their habits that create their realities on a day-to-day basis. This is not something someone can change just by reading about it. It will take a strategic plan that will most likely make you feel challenged to sustain the change.
When you have executive function challenges, you have an even harder time to sustain something that is not already a habit. With the right support system in place, I promise you can create new sustained habits and routines, but it will be WORK.
If you can honestly identify 2-3 things that you are willing to modify in your life to reach your goal, keep reading on.
What will my life look like in 12 months if I don’t bring this change into my life? What if I do? What would I gain? Or lose?
Timing is everything in life. Is there a sense of urgency for the change in your life that you desire? This can spur some good brain chemical energy to help you ignite the inner pathway to a new you. It can also help in your accountability plan to keep you on course when things get dull and boring.
Can you identify real tangible gains in your life? Get a pen and paper and get started with your individualized plan.
Your Personalized Road Map
5 steps into a new you in 2020!
Visualize
This is an essential part of making your goal work. The process helps fire up your neurons to communicate your goals as if it was a real-life action and tell them to perform the acts. This sets the stage for a pathway to a new you. Conceptualize what the new you would do on a day to day basis. How will you interact with others? What does that look like for you?
2. Questions to get you there
What are the very first things that need to happen?
Is there something can you do to make that happen?
How fast can you ACT on it? Could you give it a timeline?
Who can hold you accountable for it?
What is the next step?
Often times the excitement of the thought is enough to get you started but can quickly fade when it starts to look like a routine.
Identify the possible points where you could get stuck:
Write down the areas that could derail you
What is the advice you can give yourself when this happens?
Use a journal to plan for each possible sticking point.
Give this list to your accountability partner or coach. Check-in with that person each week to go over the goals and potential derailments.
How are you doing?
Celebrate?
Get back on track?
By creating a Road Map of what you want, steps to get you there and an accountability partner to help you stick to it, you can succeed at your goal of a new you!
Michelle R. Raz, M.A. Ed., is a professional executive function coach and educational consultant. Raz Coaching specializes in helping people with executive function challenges associated with ADHD, PTSD, Stress, TBI’s and ASD find careers they will love and land them. Read more at www.razcoaching.com/about Or sign up for the weekly blog or purchase my new book Happiness+Passion+Purpose. It is packed full of exercises and strategies you can put to use immediately.
