Choose change
Choosing change is a way of living your life that can help you to be more positive, more dynamic and, eventually, more fulfilled and successful. To take control of change in the most powerful and meaningful way, you will need to set clear, time-bound goals, with realistic action plans.
We can categorise change in a hundred different ways, but there really are only two types: those we want and those that are forced on us. The two types are inextricably linked, because the action of making a change we want always brings with it side effects – other changes – about which we may have no choice.
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Every change is like a pebble dropped into the pool of activity and experience that makes up our lives: it will cause a splash, and then ripples that will emanate outwards for a long time.
Making a dramatic change to our finances, for example, might mean our relationship with our partner has to change too; changing our relationship with our partner may mean we have less time to spend with friends; spending less time with friends might result in more changes in our relationship with our partner… and so on, ad infinitum.
The best changes are those we choose and of those, the most successful and life-enhancing are the changes we want that we express as clearly defined goals with straightforward, time-bound actions plans in place.
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You may have heard the much-quoted urban myth about Harvard MBA graduates who were asked if they had set clear, written goals and made plans to accomplish them. Three percent had written down their goals and created action plans; 13 percent had goals, but had not written them down; and 84 percent had no goals at all. Ten years later, these graduates were interviewed again. The 13 percent who started out with unwritten goals were earning, on average, about twice as much as the 84 percent who had had no goals.
The three percent who had written down their goals and their plans of action to achieve them were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97 percent put together.
It is a great story but Harvard researchers claim to know nothing of this fabulous study — and let’s face it, they would hardly have forgotten it.
So how to prove that it is worth writing down your goals?
Give it a try. Spend a little time today, now, thinking about one thing you would like to achieve during your lifetime. It may be something amazing and huge like climbing Mount Everest or walking the Great Wall of China; it might equally be something fairly simple and straightforward like losing 20lbs.
Write down your goal and, very important, this, the date by which you will achieve it, in a notebook or diary, somewhere you can refer to it regularly.
Over the next few days, think about how you can achieve it. Do not rush this stage; give yourself plenty of time and space to allow both your conscious and your subconscious mind to get to work on it.
As the ideas come to you, jot them down. Gradually, a plan will begin to emerge and, once you really begin to see the possibilities, you will find your motivation rises steadily.
When you have a complete action plan, review your goal and your deadline to see whether it is still viable.
Then start taking action.
You will have taken control of this change in your life and it will feel wonderful!
