Lose weight.
Quit smoking.
Go to bed earlier.
Eat “better.”
Eat less.
Stop drinking coffee.
Be on time.
Delete Facebook.
Exercise.
Meditate.
Cut out the alcohol.
Try intermittent fasting.
Read more books.
Spend less money on dumb sh*t.
It doesn’t matter who you are. Unless you’re a complete asshole, there are probably things you’d change about yourself.
And people try.
Maybe they try really hard, and even with the best intentions, the changes just don’t stick.
Most of the time, that’s because people try to change too many things at once.
Imagine the day where you give up coffee, go running for the first time in years, stop eating junk food, quit smoking, delete Facebook, skip your cocktail, and miss your favorite TV shows because you went to bed earlier.
That sounds like absolutely the most miserable day in the history of ever.
And you may have valid reasons for wanting or needing to do every one of those things.
But if we try to change too many things about ourselves at once, we’ll almost certainly fail.
So, pick one thing.
Just pick one thing and focus on that for at least 30 days.
It doesn’t matter what is.
When I quit smoking 15 years ago, I was pretty much a wreck. I couldn’t have focused on anything else while making that change.
I prepared my self mentally.
I set a date.
I had an accountability partner.
I had nicotine gum and one of those prescription strength nicotine inhalers standing by. (* Yes, you can use whatever methods you think are suitable despite what the cold turkey crowd says.)
And I buckled down.
I transferred the addiction from smoking to using the nicotine replacement products. And from there, I eventually stopped those as well.
It wasn’t easy. It was ridiculously difficult and awful, especially in the beginning.
But by focusing on making that one change, I was able to achieve my goal.
Anyone can do this. Anyone can change themselves in almost any way they choose.
It just takes a laser-focused effort.
So be kind to yourself.
Don’t create more suffering by overwhelming yourself.
And give the cold turkey crowd the finger of your choice.
Whichever one you want.
I’m not here to judge.
—
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