Spring is such a great time when we can feel ready to make changes, as it is a time of year for our English countryside to spring into life. It’s great for those later nights now and the warmer weather on the horizon. This is such a great time to make changes, as our inner primeval minds are ready to move much more quickly as they see this time of year as the end of hibernating through the winter and time to get busy. Making the most of our natural motivational times, is a great way in supporting us to change and move our lives forward. Setting a goal and organising a time to do the things we need to achieve our goals, is the next step. Don’t just think about things, as our minds are very used to thinking and not taking action. So, putting a spring in your step to change, means being proactive and choosing how to move forward. If your goal is to get fitter then book classes with friends, join a local group, or do a local boot camp or download the couch to 5K app. If it’s about making a personal change in your life, take the time to work out what you are choosing to change and the steps you need to take to achieve these goals. Maybe it’s to develop more confidence, to do this it’s best to have things you can do to challenge yourself with, to help build these new habits of confidence. Make three lists; one is called the green list – these are the things you are doing and can do; the amber list are things you would like to feel more confident in doing and the red list are things that seem a bit out of your reach to achieve at the moment.
With your lists you can look at the green list first; if you are doing these things with confidence, then you can put a star by them and then the rest that you do but don’t feel as confident as you would like to be, can be your first challenges. Always remember steady regular and continuous practice is the best way to change. Just like going to the gym, if you go in and have a crazy mega workout and cripple yourself for days, you are more than likely to have lowered your motivation and belief in getting fit. But setting a realistic exercise program that you can spread over the next six weeks, will see greater change. Also, it will build the confidence you need to know that you can get fit. This is the same with building confidence or making any changes to how we feel in life; steady steps and repetition to normalise what we are doing, will make success easier, allowing you to feel the positive possibilities of change. By working just on the green list and getting stars next to all of them, will build your confidence that you can do this. The next steps will be then to look for the easiest ones to do on the amber list and start doing the same thing.
Maybe the end goal is to feel that you can confidently chat with anyone in any situation and as your confidence builds, being able to chat with people will naturally draw you to your end goal. Action is the key and challenging yourself in situations is a must, try and do at least one thing a day to help you take that next step. With the inner motivation of spring in your step, plus you will already have your inner primeval mind on your side. Don’t let excuses block your progress, as often with making changes we can feel a level of inner nerves when challenging ourselves. This is normal, change will often come with this, but if we avoid doing things or put things off, it will only make moving forward become harder, while limiting our potential to change. Somethings it’s good to set a reward at the end of the first 6-week plan to give you something else to aim for, this can help us drive towards our goals with more motivation. Also, we can try and partner with a friend, family member or colleague, as it can be harder to let others down, than it can be to let ourselves down. After 6 weeks it’s time to reevaluate what you have achieved and change up your goals. For those of you using the traffic light list then it’s great to rewrite them up and add all the new things that have moved from amber to green. Plus, you can start a confidence list, where you just have all the things that you are confident in and each time you achieve another step forward you can add this to the list. Do remember that any new habit will need revisiting regularly over the next few months to anchor these into our long-term memory banks of change and creating lasting habits.
Don’t let another day go by, so choose today and maybe you can add this affirmation on your fridge or bathroom mirror:
“One day or day one? You decide.”
This can help keep you out of the excuse lane and stay in the moving forward lane of life; helping you achieve the goals you want in life. Make today ‘DAY ONE’ and spring into step with your life changes.
Have a great week Sara x
HYPNOSARA 