Change and Transition: 3 Crucial Steps

When I first started writing weekly messages in 2009, I made a decision to publish them on Friday mornings. I had only one reason in mind.

I wanted to encourage, “Because any day is a good day to start.”

There are so many ways people see some variation of “tomorrow” as being the time they’ll create the changes they want for their life.

“On Monday.” “When the kids are older.” “In the spring.” “When I’m not so busy planning this event.”

“In the new year.”

Depending on your goal, a decision to delay might be critical. Often times though, what’s happening is fear-driven rationalization and procrastination.

It is often said that if you want something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done.

Here’s one of those things.

When a person is ready to commit to creating desired changes, they must answer these three questions.

How will this impact my …..

1) Routines: When you’re adding in new activities or tasks, you must consider and adjust for changes in routine. You must be able to answer, “When will I do these things?”

2) Relationships: Most often, making changes for your life is going to impact important others and communication with that person is crucial. You must be able to answer, “Who will be impacted by this change and what conversation needs to happen?”

3) Comfort zone: There aren’t many (if any) changes in life that won’t impact the boundaries of your comfort zone. You must be able to answer, “How is this making me uncomfortable and what will I do to build my courage for it?”

One of the reasons that Mondays, the new year, event completion, or children getting older never brings what someone said it would is that the promise is made empty of these considerations. Without these three critical pieces, no number of stated tomorrows will bring what is desired.

When you’re ready for your “tomorrow” to arrive, take the time to answer these three questions.

When you do, any day – even a Friday – will be a good day to get started.