The journey from who you are now to who you want to become is a long one and it can at times feel overwhelming. But don’t be intimidated. Being overwhelmed is an emotion that results from not knowing where to start. Fortunately that is easy to overcome by assessing yourself then picking something about yourself that you’re tired of being unhappy about. Remember though that starting is not about which one you pick, it’s about the fact that you’re actually picking something. Once you’ve done that you have by default started the journey toward a better you.
The next steps are intuitive. Suppose you’re”something” is being habitually late for work. You might argue that five minutes doesn’t make a difference in your productivity, and you may well be right. But it does make a difference in the you that is presented to your co-workers, the you that is demonstrated to your boss, but most of all it makes a difference in the you that you know inwardly. How you see yourself is much more important than how others see you, and if you see yourself as someone who can’t seem to make it to work on time, then that becomes who you are on the inside.
Ultimately the process is an understanding that you are going to war with your own self. The enemy is the part of you that is okay with being late. You should realize from the outset that this part of you will put up a fierce defense, usually by launching excuses. These must be defeated.
It is crucial that you devise a plan of attack against the personal attribute within you that is okay with being that slacker. This plan could be as simple as making up your mind that you’re not going to be late again. Make it personal. Learn what it’s like to taste victory in the war against yourself. Get to know a you that has created a margin where you understand that 10 minutes early is 5 minutes late according to your own standards.
So in conclusion, starting is day one. Starting is more about learning how to start than it is about what you want to change. You are now a soldier in training, and the enemy is the thing about yourself with which you are unhappy. Your mission is to learn the tactics of your enemy, how to anticipate them, and then how to defeat them. You will learn that the ramifications of small changes are bigger changes. You start with something simple like making it to work on time. You end with the confidence that you are able to defeat your inner enemy.
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