INSIDE: Discover ten steps to change your life in a year, so you can start transforming your life starting today instead of continuing to feel stuck in a life you don’t love.
Have you ever noticed that change is unavoidable?
That’s because we live in a world of constant change.
From the change of seasons to the changes our bodies go through as we age to the continued advancement of technology, everything around us is in a constant state of flux.
The fact that things are always changing can be considered one of the only constants in our lives.
So why do so many of us run away from change?
Well, it’s simple…
We fear the unknown and would rather stay where we are in life just to avoid dealing with being uncomfortable, even if we are miserable with our current lives.
The problem with that reasoning is that we can’t avoid change. If we don’t change our lives for the better, the universe will do it for us!
For example, have you ever lost your job? Guess what? That’s the universe pushing you to change your life.
Has a close friend ever stopped talking to you for no apparent reason? That’s very likely the universe letting go of a relationship that has naturally run its course.
Given that your life will still change regardless of whether or not you are in the driver’s seat of making that change, doesn’t it make sense to take steps today that will put your life in full gear towards the change you want?
That way, you can take charge of your life instead of feeling like a passenger.
Following is a step-by-step guide to help you do just that.
How to Change Your Life in a Year
1. Make Transformations, Not Changes
Just hearing the words “make changes in your life” has the power to give many people a stomachache or a headache. That’s why I like using the word transformation instead.
Thinking about transforming your life, one you have always wanted, is so much more invigorating than the thought of having to make a change, isn’t it?
The thoughts we choose to have and the words we decide to use really do have a tremendous amount of power over us.
So from now on, drop the word “change” and focus on transforming your life instead!
2. Get Clear
To begin transforming your life, you first need to know how you want your life to look.
Take a moment and brainstorm ideas. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to get your creative juices flowing:
- If you were living your ideal life right now, what would that look like for you?
- What would you be?
- Who would you associate with?
- What would you have?
- Where would you be living?
- What would you be doing and how would you be doing it?
Don’t worry about making a list that is “doable.” Jot down anything, no matter how outlandish. This is important because radical ideas can help you think of more feasible ideas that you might not have thought of otherwise. Plus, a crazy idea right now might turn into a doable one later.
3. Do Something Every Day
No matter how small, make sure you are doing something every day that will get you closer to the transformation you want to see in your life.
Even if all you can do today is read an inspirational quote, do it! And don’t belittle it! Keeping yourself inspired and motivated is one of the most important things you can do to transform your life.
On the days when you have more time, make sure you are taking actual action steps to bring you closer to what you want, like signing up for a class or attending an event where you will be surrounded by people who can help you in your endeavors. Keep taking steps forward each day.
4. Keep a Journal/Planner
I’m a mess without my planner. I always have so many tasks I need to tend to and tons of ideas, and when I just let them float around in my head, I feel completely overwhelmed and scattered. That is not conducive to getting anything done, and certainly not to accomplishing my goals.
I think it’s a rare person who can achieve great things without keeping a daily planner. And when you also keep a daily journal, achieving your dreams becomes even more possible.
That’s why I started bullet journaling.
For those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s kind of a combination of a planner, journal, goal planner, and tracking system all in one. I love keeping all of that in one place.
No matter how you go about it, when you have a way of writing down your long term and short term goals, your daily tasks, your daily thoughts and feelings, and tracking your progress, transformation is a given for you.
So find the right planner/journal for you and start using it right away!
5. Let Go of Habits That Hold You Back
While it is important to start adding habits into our lives that will help us accomplish the goal we want to reach, such as keeping a daily planner and taking daily action steps, it is just as important to ditch the habits that will hinder the realization of your goal.
Depending on the transformation you are trying to experience, some of these habits might include:
- Watching TV all evening
- Eating junk food
- Spending all your savings each month
- Hanging out with people who hold you back
- Procrastinating
Write down the habits that are keeping you from having the life you want and then choose one of them to ditch this week. When that habit is no longer a habit, work on releasing another.
We can’t create transformation while we are continuing to do the same things. As soon as you break the pattern, you’ll start to see changes.
6. Stay Motivated
It is quite common, especially for me, to feel passionate about transforming your life and then losing motivation a week or two down the road. This is particularly true when it gets a little difficult.
But the only way to create the life you want is to stay motivated to do the things you need to do (and to not do the things you need to not do) to get what you want.
Maintaining motivation is not something I can really sum up in a paragraph or two. That’s why I’ve developed a whole course on the subject. I also wrote an article on the subject here: How to Access the Personal Motivation You Need to Achieve Your Dreams.
Take some of the action steps in the article and/or course so you can maintain the motivation you need to change your life.
7. Be Open
The worst thing you could ever have is a closed mind because it shuts you off to anything new.
Transformation is new, so to achieve it, you need to allow in what is new.
Sometimes that newness will feel scary at first. Unless it’s your intuition telling you something isn’t right, that fear is most likely occurring simply because change is scary, even when it is good for us.
An open mind means that you are open to newness and possibilities. Instead of shooting down options you normally wouldn’t consider, just allow them to be possible.
Doing that will help you find new solutions when you are stuck, and it will allow new opportunities to present themselves to you.
Remind yourself each day to have an open mind, and you might even consider jotting down the new possibilities and opportunities that come your way as a result.
8. Go With the Flow
I feel that getting in the flow of life is so important that I wrote a whole book on it!
When we are trying to achieve our goals and change our lives, there will be setbacks that require us to be flexible.
That’s what going with the flow is all about. It’s letting go of rigidness and allowing ourselves to bend instead of break. It’s like a tree branch that bends with the wind as opposed to the branch that breaks under the weight of ice and snow.
It’s important to have a plan for how you will transform your life while also being willing to shift the plan as needed. When you do that, you will find things falling naturally into place instead of feeling like you are trying to pound a round peg into a square hole.
Remind yourself to let go of rigidness and to sway with life like a tree in the wind. Notice how peaceful going with the flow can make you feel and note your experiences with flow in your journal.
9. Ignore Shiny Objects
If anyone has shiny object syndrome, it’s me! I see opportunity everywhere, and I grab those opportunities as they come up. The problem is they often derail me from my goal(s).
If your goal is to write a book, for example, don’t purchase a course on how to have a freelance writing business because you see an ad on Facebook and figure you’ll want that information at some point.
Instead, focus only on what you need to do to achieve your immediate goal. You’ll actually accomplish it that way, and you’ll accomplish it a lot faster that you would if you were trying to achieve too many goals at once.
When the time comes to learn about freelance writing, you can learn about it. Yes, you might have missed a special sale on the course, but another deal will most likely come along.
Better to accomplish your dreams than to get sidetracked and struggle for years to make anything happen because you keep getting derailed.
10. Create a Daily Ritual So You Can Change Your Life in a Year
It’s the things we do on a daily basis that either set us up for transformation or stagnation. That’s why it is important to create a daily ritual that will help you move forward.
Unfortunately, I can’t give you the perfect formula for a daily ritual that will work for you. Each unique person and each goal requires a different set of consistent tasks that will get them to where they want to go, but here are some examples of things you might consider adding into your daily ritual:
- Go for a daily walk
- Meditate
- Keep a gratitude journal
- Envision your end result in vivid color
- Drink a smoothie each morning
- Read an inspirational book
- Call one person you want to connect with each day
- Spend 1 hour a day learning a new skill
You get the idea. You want to do 1-3 simple things at a consistent time each day that will keep you on the right path.
11. Bonus – Reflect & Keep It Going
It’s important to look back over the past week, month, three months, etc. and notice how far you have come. When you take the steps outlined above, you’ll be amazed at how much your life will change for the better.
Recognize the transformation, pat yourself on the back, and keep on going to the next milestone, and the next, and the next. Note your achievements in your journal to track them.
This Time Next Year Could Look Entirely Different
Thinking about how to change your life in a year can feel daunting when you think of the big picture, but when you take small, actionable steps like the ones in this article, you’ll notice your life has transformed before your eyes. It will be easier and faster than you would have imagined, and a whole lot of fun as well.
Choose the step that resonated with you the most from the list above and get started on it tomorrow. It will be the catalyst for the life transformation you are looking for, and you’ll be on your way.