Want to Make Changes Stick? Got 30 Days?

Do you want to make changes in your life? Do you want off the treadmill? Then start today. It only takes 30 days.

Thirty days is all it takes to add a new habit or subtract an old one according to Matt Cutts in his TED talk: Try Something New for 30 Days

Cutts said that if you want it badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days.

What do you want badly enough? What changes do you want to make in your life today? What can you try each day for the next 30 days that will make a large cumulative effect in your life?

Do you want to communicate better with your boss? Do you want to become more proficient at Excel? Do you want to exercise more often?

Whatever you want to do, figure out what you can do every day for the next 30 days that will get your closer to that goal.

If you want to lose weight, don’t just join a gym, exercise every day. It could be only 10 minutes some days. But exercising every day for 30 days will get you must closer to your weight goal. And face it, those 30 days will pass even if you aren’t exercising.

If you want to make better presentations at work, then each day practice one technique in a meeting or on the telephone. A few minutes each day will boost your skills in that area.

A new habit, once ingrained because difficult to ignore. If I don’t exercise five times each week I feel like something is missing from my life. I am certainly not a former athlete. I don’t even like exercise. But by exercising regulary for my long-term health, it is now a habit. I started by exercising daily for an entire month. Now I exercise at least 5 times per week. I've even found creative ways to exercise while in airports & hotels!

So what changes you do want to make stick? Pick one, do it every day for 30 days. I’d love to hear what has happened in your life as a result. Contact me at Valerie.MacLeod@HainesCentre.com

Want more control over your life? Want more time to develop new habits? Read Get Me Off the Treadmill! It is my recently updated life-planning guide.