The Challenge of Change

Changing things in our lives—our habits, our jobs, where we live, and how we move through life—can sometimes be challenging. We all have great ideas of how we can improve one thing or another, how a different locale would be beneficial, and so forth, and we often create great ways to make those changes. It is at that time, or perhaps after an initial period of change, that we begin to think of how much easier things used to be before we started on this new track. New Year’s Resolutions seem to be some of the easiest to abandon, particularly if you look at the number of gyms and fitness centers that see a huge spike in membership during January, and then see use of their facilities and services drop precipitously by March. There are the determined few, though, who stick to their resolutions and begin to see and feel the changes they wanted. This is not, however, about resolutions, per se, but more about the difficulties we have in making lasting changes that truly do improve our health, our lives, or our jobs. Research suggests it takes about 66 days for a new habit to form, replacing the old habit or behavior. That 66 days could be shortened to 21 days, depending on what habit was being formed, or it could take nearly a year to become automatic behavior. The same research also suggests that the longer a new habit takes to form, the greater the possibility of dropping it altogether. The reason for this is while your conscious mind is reminding you to get up earlier, pull on your running togs and trainers and get outside for a morning run, you unconscious mind is reminding you how much easier your life would seem if you did not do that, and stayed in your comfort zone. Remaining in your comfort zone, however, is the equivalent of stasis. No movement. No improvement. Life, however, goes on whether or not we do or not. Not improving, not learning, not growing, all contribute to a life that never improves, no matter how much we say we want to change things.

What to do? Make. A. Move. Any move in the desired direction of change is fine. It doesn’t matter how small it is. Writing one sentence of your book-to-be. Running 50 yards as a start to your future Marathon. Tiny, tiny steps, most certainly, but they move us forward, and don’t allow us to mentally or physically atrophy, which is what happens when we do nothing at all. How to keep ourselves focused? We all know ourselves pretty well, so if you are the type that knows you are going to sleep in late, give yourself an out. Enlist an early-rising friend to call you at 5:30 AM as a reminder. Let others know what you’re doing, and what you want to accomplish. Each day you don’t sleep in late, and force yourself to lace up your trainers to get yourself out the door, is one day closer to your goal. And as you take those first steps on your morning run, you are closer still to that Marathon than you were before. Each sentence written for your book leads to other thoughts and more sentences that form the basis of the story you tell. That last thought I know all too well, and am too familiar with the book-that-never-was, but that has become the book-on-its-way. Twenty-one days? Sixty-six days? No. But it is coming into being, word by word, sentence by sentence, and at some point, it will take on a life of its own, and I will simply be its copywriter as the story unfolds in book form. 

So, write that sentence. Do that sit-up. Run to the end of the driveway. Act. Begin. And be prepared to see the changes you desire, as well as those wonderful things that happen because you took action.