Let's talk about change for a change

Have you ever looked at someone and just admire how stable and centered their life is or how they seem to just be above everything. These people just make you feel as if there is much more to life than the current situation with which you find yourself in, they inspire you to desire to be a happier more productive version of yourself. I have often found it easy to change my mindset and set it on positive mode but the problem I have always faced was that positive mode only lasted for a few hours or a day at best. The moment “life” happens then I automatically go back to my default setting where insecurities, fear, procrastination and low levels of productivity are the order of the day.However this week I saw a whatsapp status from an old friend of mine which had the message ‘Lets talk about change for a change’. The statement on its own got me thinking about how people so often throw the word change around a lot but never really have the zeal or knowledge on how to actually change their lives and how they live. So I dedicated this entire week to finding out exactly what it takes for one to change and as always I have come up with 10 new habits that are sure to bring about positive change into your life.

1.     1. Always practice self-honesty
It is very difficult in this day and age to have a clear state of self-love and self-appreciation because what society deems to be perfect is an unattainable feat. Every morning when I wake up I recite a few affirmations on who I am, what I am good at, what I love about myself and where I see myself in the next 10 years. In the spirit of honesty I also then speak out all my short comings and make myself aware of my imperfections and right there and then make a conscious decision on how I am going to turn these weaknesses into strengths. What this does is it makes me aware of where I am as a person and where I want to be hence a goal is already established in my head and it is easier to plan out a course of action as to how I will reach that goal. So the best way to grow and fully change the direction in which you are going is to be brutally honest with yourself.

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 2. Develop your confidence
For all the successful people I have had the privilege to share this earth with I have found out that they have a few things in common and one of them is an undeniable sense of self-confidence.  Skill and passion cannot be fully exploited if you lack the confidence to do what you want to do. We should treat confidence like a muscle, the more you work on it the stronger it becomes. So build your confidence by counting all the small little victories and writing them down in a journal or diary or anywhere you choose to write. Read out all your accomplishments every Friday and just bask in the glory of your victories. This keeps you positive all throughout and boosts your confidence in your abilities.

3.       3. Practice effective time management
The advancement in technology has made this generation by far the busiest of all time and this has had a great impact on our time management. The mistake that we have made though is that we have traded productivity for being busy. Most of our time in a day is spent doing things that really don’t have anything to do with what we are passionate about or our purpose. This in my view is not enough if you really want to change your life for the better. Just imagine how amazing life would be if we were to increase the time we spend doing the things we love and living our lives to the fullest. So we should set apart at least 3-4 hours of our day doing the one thing that we cant go through the entire day without thinking about and balance out our time in order to develop our natural gifts and talents.

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 4. Enjoy the moment
It is quite sad how a lot of people live their lives on auto-pilot where life itself just passes them by and they are hardly ever present wherever they are. Physically they could be there but their minds always tend to wander off into the future and make them anxious or into the past were the end up re-hashing things that only just ruin their mood. So every time you feel as if you are drifting away just take a second to breathe and just acknowledge whats around you and be in touch with the present moment. If you are around people or enjoying some food or both, just take the time to appreciate these valuable moments as well as the people around you and just look at all the good things in your life. This in my view makes you more grateful and happy because your mind is just focused on the beauty of the current events.

5.       5. Stop whining
I remember reading about a movement being promoted by a lady called Iyanla Vanzat which she called No Whining Wednesdays. I was laughing when I saw it but then decided to give it a try. Wednesdays you can not whine complain or criticize and every time you whine you have to put a dollar in a jar. I would put my money in one of the pockets of my old school blazers for every time I whined complained or criticized on a Wednesday. On Tuesday night I honestly thought I was crazy until I realized by the end of the first Wednesday that my blazer pocket was $20 richer and it could have been more because I then realized that most of the complaining I did without even knowing it. I am happy to say that I have reduced my level of complaining not only on Wednesdays but on every other day as well. So maybe you should get your own jar and start the No Whining Wednesday challenge and see how positive your mindset becomes.

I hope your week is filled with a lot of positivity and it becomes as productive as you would want it to be. If you don’t like something change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Enjoy the rest of your week and don’t forget to Thank God its Monday