Insight Into What It Takes To Attain Perminant Change

Have You Achieved Your New Year's Resolution? Insight Into What It Takes To Attain Permanent Change Now that the new year is underway, a fresh start has been offered to all to achieve the goals we have set in our declared "New Years Resolutions"! So how's it going? How many of you are on your way to shedding those extra 20 pounds you've gained, quit smoking, improved those less than passionate relationships, organized your daily lives, created more balance between work and family, or whatever it is that you desired to change? The lists of resolutions are endless! Are you finding success in your efforts to achieve your goals? My hope is that you are well on your way to changing the habits that have contributed to creating these draining limitations in your lives. When an individual observes positive change beginning to occur as a result of their declaration to reach a goal, tremendous energy is gained much like igniting a fire within that helps fuel the effort it takes to reach a goals. How many of you are feeling ignited in this way? Do not be too upset if you are among those who have declared to change and are yet, once again, confused as to why you cannot make the changes you wish to gain in order to live your life to the fullest. Making a "resolution" to change a detrimental habit or improve your negative behavior is a both courageous and admirable! Please acknowledge yourself if you have had the insight to recognize the changes you desire to make in your life. This is an excellent first step to achieving your goal. Unfortunately, creating a goal is only the first step. In order to truly achieve positive change, a plan of action must be developed to allow you to take the steps necessary to reach your goal. Without a plan of action including specific action steps that are measurable, attainable, realistic and timely, permanent change is unlikely to occur. Such a plan is known as a S-M-A-R-T plan. How smart was your plan of action? Keep in mind that failing to plan is planning to fail. Those people who achieve extraordinary goals in life are not just lucky. Such people set goals just as you may have. The difference in their success is that they also created a plan of action to help them get into immediate action. People who succeed dedicate themselves to continuous improvement on a consistent basis. In order to change you must have a strategy, some step-by-step action plans for changing how you think, feel, and what you do every single day you are alive. To help you create such an action plan for your own success, two things are require: 1. Creating a SMART plan of action. 2. Disputing limiting beliefs that have stood in your way in the past. The combination of these two elements is necessary in order to make lasting change. Let us examine each one separately. Creating a Smart Plan of Action: The first step to creating a Smart plan is to define your goals for the next 90 days. In doing do, remember to keep these goals specific. After you create the top three goals you wish to achieve for the next 90 days, the next step is to complete the action steps you will need to take in order for you to successfully reach them. As you write these action steps, include in them the result that is gained by following them to remind yourself of their purpose. An example of this would be: Goal - I will improve my health and fitness level and lose 10 pounds. Action Steps- 1. I will begin working out with a trainer twice a week to improve my muscle tone. 2. I will do cardiovascular exercise four times per week to help burn calories 3. I will consult with a nutritionist to design a healthy eating plan for me to follow to ensure that I am eating properly to lose weight. 4. I will plan what I will eat a day a head of time so that I will eat healthy throughput each day. 5. I will keep a journal to record how I am feeling during this process of change to increase my awareness of my emotional ups and downs. Disputing Limited Beliefs: The next part of achieving positive change is to understand that, often times we fail to achieve our goals because we have limiting beliefs that sabotage our efforts. In his book Taming Your Gremlin, Rick Carson refers to your limited belief as a "gremlin". Carson explains that your gremlin is the narrator in your head. He states that your gremlin has influenced you since you came into the world and continues to accompany you as you travel through each day. Your gremlin wants you to accept his interpretation of your experiences and of what is reality. Carson strongly teaches, "Listen to this carefully: your gremlin's goal is to squelch the natural, vibrant you that is within you." Given such insight, it is evident to see that allowing your gremlin to feed you your belief of the world or of what you are capable of is not going to be beneficial in allowing you to live your life to the fullest. With such knowledge regarding the limiting thoughts that interfere with the progress that can be made towards positive change, it is helpful to do a daily assessment of the thoughts that travel through your head each day. This can be done beautifully in the form of a journal. Becoming aware of what you are thinking allows you the opportunity to dispute the thoughts that are not based on what is real but rather on the gremlin that lives within. Often limiting beliefs provoke emotions such as anxiety, guilt, fear, sadness, depression, and anger. By becoming more aware of the thoughts you are thinking and the emotions that those thoughts promote, you will gain clarity as you walk through your process of change. Keep in mind that you have the power to choose what you think. You may, at anytime, replace a negative thought with a more empowering one. Positive self talk ignites the energy you will need to fuel you as you move towards reaching your goals! For more information on changing in a positive direction and empowering yourself to achieve your goals, you may contact the author at esav1@aol.com or visit her website at http://www.elizabethsavino.com.