October 30th, 2009 By Kevin Ngo
If you want to be able to change your life, then you must do something that you have not been doing up until this point. Jim Rohn said it best when he said, “For things to change, you must change.” The people who are able to create the life that they want despite their circumstances are the people who are able to get themselves to do what is necessary long enough to see their dreams become a reality. If you currently have a life that makes you unhappy or unsatisfied, then in order to change it, you must take a new set of actions. In this article, I will share with you a couple of tips to help you create a different outcome than the one you are currently heading towards.
Change Your Mind Change Your Life
The first thing you will need to change is your beliefs about what you can or cannot accomplish. I’m not only talking about money here. I’m talking about anything and everything that is important to you. If you want a wonderful relationship, then you must first believe that it’s possible. If you want a successful career, then you must first believe that it’s within your reach. Belief is a powerful thing, so powerful that if you believe you were meant to live a mediocre life, then that fate will be set in stone, at least in your mind.
So how do you change your belief about what is possible? The first thing you need to do is understand what a belief is. A belief is simply a feeling of certainty. When you believe something, you are certain that it is true. When you don’t believe something, you are certain that it’s not true or you’re uncertain that it’s true. Understanding this will help you realize that whether you think something is possible or impossible doesn’t necessarily depend on reality. It all depends on what you perceive as reality.
There was story about a bright student who took an intelligence test. Upon seeing his score, he was shocked to find out how low his score was. This caused him to believe that he was not a bright student and that he was incapable of doing well in school even though he has always been an A student. After this teacher saw a huge drop in his grades, he had a talk with him to see what was going on. It turned out, the student misinterpreted the score. Not only did he actually have a high score, it was one of the highest scores in the nation. Upon learning this, his grades immediate shot back up again.
The point of the story is to show you how powerful a belief can be. You can either use it to destroy your life or use it to propel yourself to new heights.
How to Change Your Life
So how can you use this to change your life? What you need to do is to find ways to increase your belief of what is possible for yourself. You can do this in several ways. The first way is to start reading positive books and listening to positive audio programs. In essence what you are doing is brainwashing yourself into believing you are capable of a better life. This may sound like a bad thing but it’s not.
If you believe that you are mediocre and that your life will never amount to anything, then trust me, you were brainwashed. What you need to do is reverse that effect by feeding your mind with words of encouragement and empowerment. When you constantly do this, you will eventually start to believe more and more in yourself and what you are truly capable of accomplishing in your life.
There are a lot of different books that can help start you on the right path. You can go over to the motivational books page to see my recommendation list.
Once you start believing that you are capable of doing far more with your life than you have shown up until this point, you will start to take a new set of actions. To do this, you must first know your outcome. This means you need to set new goals. When the belief that you have in yourself is low, you will tend to set low and uninspiring goals. These are goals that you may not even bother working towards since they don’t inspire you. Even if you do achieve them, you won’t be all that thrilled.
When the belief you have in yourself gets stronger, you will start to set the goals you really want to achieve. These are the inspiring goals that will help change your life even if you don’t reach them. You see, the biggest benefit in setting and working on your goals isn’t obtaining them. The biggest benefit you will get is the skills, knowledge, and new habits you pick up along the way. It’s what the pursuit of the goal will make of you that’s important.
Change Your Fate, Change Your Life
So in conclusion, to change your life, you need to first change your beliefs of what is possible for you. Start surrounding yourself with people who are more successful and happier than you are. Their mentality and habits will start to rub off on you. You will start thinking differently. Change your thoughts change your life.
How long does it take to change your life? Can you change your life in seven days? How about a month? The answer is your life will change the second you start doing things you have never done before. Every action you take is a cause set in motion that will literally change the current path that you are on and will therefore change your destiny. You can control your fate by changing the decisions you make and the actions you take. The power to believe in yourself is the power to change your fate and to change your life.
Until next time…
Love Life. Do Good. Live Well.
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This is amazing to me. I've never looked at things in that kind of perspective. I will definitely have to try it out, because my self-esteem is very low. And I think that this strategy can only make things better.
Low self-esteem normally comes from past experiences that you may have interpreted incorrectly, just like the bright student I mentioned in the article. Remember that what you believe about yourself may or may not be true but either way, you can change it. One very effective thing you can do is to start surrounding yourself with positive and encouraging people. If you can't find any, then start reading positive books or listening to audio programs to give you more evidence that you are more than you think you are.
To help start you off, here is a video by Les Brown called “You Deserve”. It's about an hour long…
You Deserve
Hope it helps. Thanks for commenting.
Interesting points. Lately I am quite interested in how people fear change. Any ideas?
People fear change because it's the unknown. We tend to be confident about things that we have experienced over and over. Things that are new may feel scary until we experience it enough times. Fear of change is basically fear of the unknown. Once you go through the change and live it long enough, you will no longer fear it.
tanx dude
I find you truly inspirational!
Thanks for the kind compliment!
thanks, wonderful and inspiring article!
You're welcome!
WOW! I need to read this every morning!
Nah, this article will get boring after a few reads 🙂 What you should do instead is find some audio programs to listen to. Starting your morning with positive material is better than drinking coffee 🙂
My husband & I have been lost in a world of drugs & self pity for the past 10 years/.
Your article has really inspired me to belive that there is still hope and that I can still make a change. Thank you so much
You're welcome Cheryl, and thank YOU for sharing your comment. It made my day 🙂
Just remember that change is not a matter of possibility or luck; it's a matter of decision followed by consistent action. I truly wish you and your husband the best.
“to be where you have never been before, you have to do what you have never done before”
thanx for the motivation ! I needed that ! I am very lazy and I really need to change myself !
Last night I was in the midst of loneliness thinking how can I change my life I’m already 24 and I haven’t prove anything to anyone or to my self. I want to change but I don’t know how, I want to be a better me but Im afraid of change I am afraid of the unknown , afraid to go out from my comfort zone but after reading your article I just smile and tap my head. Thank you so much I slept with a smile on my face because you have made me realize that if i want to see something different , something productive I must change my strategy so I can see a better outcome and a better ME. THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YOU for inspiring people like me 🙂 PLEASE DO NOT STOP WRITING , YOU HAVE THE POWER TO TOUCH OTHER PEOPLE’S LIFE EVEN IF IT’S MILES AWAY 🙂
Thanks for the kind words, Sha. I wish you the best and don’t worry, I’ll continue writing. With comments like yours, there’s no way I’m stopping. 🙂
I would like to suggest a book, “ When Work isn’t Working” from ChangingPeople. It’s just one of many books on personal development that I am learning from. There are real-life stories to keep you inspired. Plus the activities and worksheet are very beneficial because they challenge you to follow the steps and take action. When books are interactive you are encouraged to complete the tasks so you can apply what you learnt to the next chapter.
Firstly i thank you for the inspiration, i am hooked to your website. I don’t recall how i got to know it but believe me its paving me to the right path. Tell me, how do i recognise that now i get out of my plan or i loose focus of my plans? I ask this because i’ve made lots of successful plans but non of them tend to be successful.
When you make a plan, it’s a good idea to be flexible. Measure your results and see if you’re getting closer to your goals. If not, adjust your plan. As for recognizing a lost of focus, just ask yourself every now and then if what you’re currently doing is taking you closer to your goals or not. I hope that helps.