How many of you talk about making a change and have not done anything at all? Or perhaps you have taken some action but fall flat on your face. You were not patient enough to see the result and gave up.
When I made the decision to make the change, the first person I needed to convince is myself. I was the biggest critique on my life.
I could not even believe that the change was possible as there was no evidence of any supporting result yet.
Looking back now, I now know the meaning of faith. Having faith in yourself. It means having the believe that change will happen despite no evidence to support.
The other thing is the high anticipation to keep on checking for the result. Especially if you are trying to manage your weight, I find myself checking the scale every few days. The scale became my focal point to my happiness. What I meant by that is that , if the scale showed some weight loss, I would feel happy that my efforts paid off. But, if it showed even a slight increase or no movement at all, I felt down and angry and start questioning why my effort was not showing at all. When I became aware how stupid it was to do this. I was actually telling myself indirectly that I was not trusting myself. So, if you are doing this, please stop because it will only frustrate and make you give up. I am glad that I realise this earlier on in my journey.
This was me ( in red ) backed then with my brother Robert.
If you decide to embark on any journey of transformation, know that your current self will always try to stop the change. Because change is always uncomfortable and you have to revisit your habits. Replacing bad habits with good ones. This require discipline and lots of effort. One of our primal instincts is survival.That is why we do not like making change naturally unless it is a must.
Here are a few tips that you need to be aware of, if you want to make any transformation in your life.
1.) Be absolutely clear where you are heading to. Make sure that the new vision of you is crystal clear and that you can envision it in your mind.
2.) Make the decision and tell yourself " No matter what , I am doing this"
3.) Dive into the new learning and knowledge to find out as much as you can about the new change. What you need to do and what you need to avoid. keep on learning until you have a deep understanding about the actions that you need to take. Having all this new information will slowly disperse the fear in our mind of the change you are making.
4.) Set up a reasonable timeframe to measure yourself. in order to know your progress, you must know the parameters you need to measure. In the case of weight loss, don't just stop at measuring your weight loss. Extend to measuring your waist size, you muscle mass, body water content, fat loss and etc. Perhaps also measure your energy level by measuring your time lapse in running or some form of activity that you can track .
5.) Reward yourself as you successfully showed some results in your life. If the result is slow and not to your expectation, just celebrate for the successful change in habits. Always find a reason to motivate yourself. Stop comparing yourself with others. Focus on you only, because that is what matters the most.
6.) Join a support group.There are many support groups available if you take the time to seek it. I was not aware of such group until I search for it. Apparently , you have lots of support group that you can find on Facebook. If by any chance you do not have one, look into the possibilities of building a community so you can lea. By encouraging others you are encouraging yourself.
I wish you all the best in your journey. Be the best version of you that you can possibly be.