Preparation for Change

I love Steve Pavlina.  He has a lot of weird ideas that don't interest me at all, but in the area of personal development that requires big changes, he's my favorite.  He's tried out all his methods on himself so they're not just ideas.  On the other hand, he's much more self-disciplined than I will ever hope or even want to be, so I'm not totally in love with everything he comes up with.  I have tried one of his ideas several times, and it has worked like a charm for me and that's the 30 day challenge.  He recommends trying out new ideas for personal development for 30 days to see if it's really something you want to add to your life or not.  After 30 days it will have become a habit and will be easy to continue if that's what you choose, or you can discontinue it if it hasn't been all that much use.  It's the best for preparing for change that I've ever come across.

Here's the way it works:  First, of course, you will come up with some ideas for ways to improve your life and then you will choose one for the 30 day challenge.  It's been my experience that if it's the first time you've done a 30 day challenge, don't pick the hardest one to start with.  It can be too much of a challenge.  I like to pick one that sounds like a little bit of fun like reading for an hour every day, but every body's will be different.  Then you will want to make your decision public (which makes it harder to give up).  It works even better if you have an accountability partner who won't cut you any slack. 

Next, carve out some time to implement whatever you've decided on.  It won't work well unless you have decided on how you will make time for this new thing.  It needs a home in your day and the way to do this is to decide on what time you will focus on it and for how long.  Tracking this is a good idea - a calendar page posted on the refrigerator might work for you.  Check off each day when you've finished.  Celebrate at the end of the 30 days and decide whether you want to continue.

Over time, I've made some big changes in my life by using Steve's 30 day challenge.  It has worked for me in areas where I was likely to forget to do it - such as setting aside a time for daily meditation, exercise, fixing healthy food.  I don't want to end up at the end of my life wishing I had done the things I wanted to do, and the 30 day challenge continues to help me do the things that really benefit me.