Creating a Lasting Change

We all have dream, we all want to believe deep down in our souls that we have a special gift, that we can make a difference, that we can touch others in a way, that we can make the world a better place. At one time in our lives, we all had a vision for the quality of life that we desire and deserve. Yet, for many of us, those dream have become so shrouded in the frustrations and routines of daily life that we no longer even make an effort to accomplish them. Many have lost that sense of certainty that creates the winner’s edge.

Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives. Controlled focus is like a laser beam that can cut through anything that seems to be stopping you. When we focus consistently on improvement in any area, we develop unique distinctions on how to make that area better. One reason why so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus, we never concentrate our power. Most people just dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular. Most people fail in life simply because they focus on minor things rather than focusing on big impactful things.

It is a fact that individuals have powers to change virtually everything and anything in their life in an instant. All the resources we need to turn our dreams into reality are within us merely waiting for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birth right. While we all have the capacity to do massive things, we are stuck procrastinating actually waiting for the right time which never comes. In many ways procrastination is a fundamental law of universe. A parallel for this can be drawn from Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion. An object either remains at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by an external force i.e. objects in motion tend to stay in motion, objects at rest tends to stay at rest. So if we do not decide or do not take any action to turn our dreams into reality, we would just dabble our way through life and be like an object at rest which always trends to stay at rest. We need to take action and put the object in motion so that it stays in motion. We may start with small actions which over time will lead to massive results and giant success because results from each action would multiply and have compounding effect.

To make all these actions, you need to change – a change in your beliefs, your habits, your thought process, your attitude, your conviction, and your success criteria and so on. All these changes you make in yourself have to be a lasting and consistent to be of any true value. We have all experienced change for a moment, only to feel let down and disappointed in the end. In fact, many people attempt change with a sense of fear and dread because unconsciously they believe the changes will be temporary. A prime example of this is someone who needs to begin fitness training to lose weight, but finds himself putting it off, primarily because he unconsciously knows that whatever pain he endures in order to create the change will bring him only short term rewards, he fails to see the long term objective and the rewards which would flow in. Again this can be closely associated with the concept of pain and pleasure. We are always attracted towards things which provides temporary pleasures and always tend to move away from the temporary pain which would provide lasting pleasures in the long haul.

To create a lasting change, there are three elementary principles of change which are extremely powerful when implemented and applied skillfully. These principles can be equally applied in any situation – whether for individual change, change in the company to maximize it potentials and so on.

1.       Raise your standards: Anytime you sincerely want to make a change, first thing you must do is raise your standards. The most important thing is changing what you demand of yourself. Make note of all things that you would no longer accept in life, all things that you would no longer tolerate and all things that you aspire to become. Everybody have that power and courage available with them, one only will have to take a step towards utilizing these effectively.

2.       Change your limiting beliefs: If you raise your standards but don’t really believe you can meet them, you do not have the conviction, you have already sabotaged yourself. You won’t even try, you will be lacking that sense of certainty that allows you to tap the deepest capacity that’s within you. Our beliefs are like unquestioned commands, telling us how things are, what’s possible and what’s impossible, what we can and what we cannot do. They shape every action, every thought and every feeling that we experience. As a result, changing our belief system is central to making any real and lasting change in our lives. We must develop a sense of certainty that we can and will meet the new standards before we actually do.

3.       Change your strategy: In order to keep your commitment, you need the best strategies for achieving the results. It is true that if you set a higher standard and you can get yourself to believe, then you certainly can figure out the strategies. You simply will find a way. Another important aspect in figuring out the best strategies is to find a role-model, someone who is already getting the results you want and then tap into their knowledge. Learn what they are doing, what their core-beliefs are, and how they think. Not only will this make you more effective, it will also save you a huge amount of time because you won’t have to re-invent the wheel. You can fine-tune it, re-shape it and perhaps even make it better.

In life, you see lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough, you must take action. These principles helps establish a right level of actions and thinking that will guarantee your success and ensure that you continue to operate at that level in your career and life and get things what you want in amount greater than you have ever imagined.

Source: Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins