Tom here with a quick tip on how to change your life…

Everyone wants to change something.

For most it falls in to one of two categories:

One Day…

Or

Day one.

Which do you usually decide?

For most of us, it’s the latter.

We push change off. Try to put it out of our mind because we think change will be painful, slow or if we’re honest; some part of us fears making the change.

So the brain defaults to survival mode and keeps everything the same.

Thing is, change can be easy, quick and enjoyable.

Yes, enjoyable.

The trick?

Don’t over-complicate it.

That means minimize the amount of shiny abstract models and theories you need to believe in, in order to simply go ahead and change yourself.

Choose to be wise, rather than clever…

Use the basic formula for change.

What’s that?

Simple - all personal change can be summarised to:

I used to do this.

I stopped doing this.

I started doing that.

I keep doing that.

Think of any successful personal change and it will have followed the 4 steps.

So when you think about a change you want to make, map it out.

::: Let’s Work Through An Example :::

Addiction to phones and social media has been in the news lately, so let’s work with a 4 step formula for that, focusing on the doings.

Go to the end, see yourself changed, doing what you’ll be doing then when you’ve successfully changed and map the change back to now, sticking to the events and doings. Avoid the tendency to add story.

So it might look something like this:

I used to leave my phone on and place it by my bedside every night. Upon waking, I used to check my mail and social media first thing in the morning, for 30 minutes.

I stopped putting my phone by my bed at night.

I started leaving my phone in the sitting room at night, switched off. I started leaving a good book by my bedside and reading it for 20 minutes first thing in the morning.

I kept reading for 20 minutes upon waking followed by a 10 minute shower and then turning on my phone. I did this for X days before it quickly felt like it was my new ‘norm’.

I kept doing this till it became my new habit.

See how this approach to change is much simpler, quick and easy than telling yourself…

…I need to understand my beliefs and values. I need to do a six step reframe on my ‘warring parties’ and create a new ‘identity’ that I’m a morning reader.

Which do you think is easier to do?

See how one complicates and one makes things straight-forward and much easier to do.

Do that.

Remember, our habits are in a constant state of formation. Everything habituates.

What you reinforce continues, what you stop doing dies away.

Try this out for yourself today, pick a change you want to make and map it out.

Then make today, day one.

You’re always just one decision away from a totally different life.

Choose well.

If you’d like to learn more expert tips and easy to implement strategies for how to use NLP on yourself then be check this course out.

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