Have you ever wanted to change your life? Caught in a rut? Do you always have excuses for why you can’t do something? There is no magic formula that will change your life. The lottery of life is up to you. You decide what changes you want and you decide how to make them – slowly, spontaneously or never. I know, it’s not that simple, or is it. Here are some reasons to change and simplify your life. Deciding to make changes is half the battle.

People don’t change – what a false statement! Most people really don’t change – but we have a habit of scrutinizing every detail and when we look at other people we only look at yesterday. You need to look at each day and thousands of days at that to see the real change. It’s not easy to do. Sometimes it happens so slowly we just don’t notice. So what do you want, the life you live or the life within.

Another overlooked view on change is what many refer to as the brick wall theory. You know, how do stop yourself from hitting a brick wall – stop doing it! Sounds obvious, but day after day, we hit brick walls, over and over. We are all guilty. We do the same thing. We make excuses and blame it on the circumstances – “oh, if that brick wall wasn’t there I wouldn’t keep hitting it!”. Reality check – it is not the circumstances that need changing, it’s your actions. Learn what the correct actions are and you will get the correct results.

A few years ago, I read a book called Soar with Your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton (Often thought of as the father of “strengths psychology”) & Paula Nelson (well known commentator on CNN & Today). This book was a gem and I still preach it to this day. One of the main premises “if you develop your strengths to the maximum, it becomes so great it overwhelms the weakness”. In other words, if you want to change your life, work on the things that you are good at, the ones you enjoy. You will find that you become so good at those things that the other skills are “overwhelmed” and of no consequence. It really does work.

One example in the book is a fable of 6 animals going to school – a duck, fish, eagle, owl, squirrel and a rabbit. The first day they go running….the rabbit is the stars and loves school. Next day they go swimming…and the rabbit sinks like a stone and almost drowns. So they double up on his swimming courses and take him out of running (imagine if they put him in flying class). He begins to resent school and is not doing the one thing he loves – running and jumping. The moral, to concentrate on what we do best – that is how we can change our lives and optimize the results.

Often, we are scared of the results, maybe even the success and joy we might achieve. Sometimes the things we desire, don’t fit into our partner’s lives. But not all changes have to be dramatic, however, if you don”t like the world you exist in, then a change is a good thing. And, it’s up to you to change it.

So remember not to sit there thinking change is impossible, but rather endless with ample chances if we remove the obstacles and focus. Learning how to focus and make those changes is a whole other step. But that’s another story…Change Your Life – Part II.

if you liked this post, take a gander at these ones!

• Change Your Life – Part II
• Ripples on The Pond of Life
• good things come to those that make an effort
• what is voluntary simplicity
• simply show up and your efforts will count