Guest Blog: Thriving in Purposed Living
You Can Change Anything in 90 Days
If someone told you that you could change anything in 90 days, would you believe them? When it comes to changing your habits, body, marriage, or career, it takes less time than you think. If you are truly committed to changing something in your life, using the Design Book and Pamela Shaw methods can be the avenue that gets you there.
Creating the Goal
People often become frustrated with goals because of experiencing repetitive misses in past processes. Before setting a goal, there are two basic principles to change that are very important to point toward success.
The first principle is that you cannot change what you won’t acknowledge. What is it you want most? It is important to identify it. If you want a new job, an improved body, or a better marriage, that is a great starting point, but not enough. Instead, identify why that is the thing you want most.
- Has your job become uninteresting? Why?
- Are you lacking self-esteem or having less energy?
- Do you feel disconnected in your relationships? What would change that?
Nothing will change if you do not acknowledge the real problem.
The second principle is that time in one area is time away from another. For example, if you decide to that you want a new job, you should dedicate time to additional training, applying for jobs, or improving your interview skills. Choosing to focus and prioritize time somewhere else like a major yard project or training for a marathon will delay getting a new job. It is not that yard work and running are bad choices but choosing to spend your time in those ways instead takes away time from your job goal.
Setting Up for Success by Breaking It Down
After identifying what needs to change and dedicating to doing it, it becomes a 90-day goal. While that doesn’t seem like a lot of time looking at the big picture, it can become overwhelming in the application.
To make the process easier, it is often easier to break the goal down into 30-day increments, then weekly increments, and sometimes even daily or hourly blocks of time.
Breaking things down can make the big goal more attainable. Schedule out block of time in your daily planner. Create a to-do list that gives a specific thing to do that gets you closer to your goal. When you have daily and weekly time to dedicate yourself to the goals, you can see change. It is important to spell out steps you are going to take.
Commit to Being Uncomfortable
Every day everyone will experience a gap between what they want right now and what they want long term. If you have a goal to improve a relationship with someone in your life, you must choose it. If you plan to call that person at a certain time, but find yourself feeling awkward, busy, or tired and wanting to back out, keep your commitment to make the call.
A more common example is the goal to become more fit. You may have a goal to lose more weight or become a better runner, but when it comes time to eat less or get up early to exercise, you do not want to do it. There is always going to be a gap where you must fight the “right now” feelings for the bigger goal.
Giving in to what you are wanting in the moment will rarely bring change. Stepping into the uncomfortable area of personal growth and inconvenience is what will ultimately lead to stretching and change. If you want to know how to live a better life, you must acknowledge and fight the feelings of giving in to how your feel in certain moments.
Using the Best Tools
While many believe that pure willpower will be enough to accomplish their goals, that is not the case for most people. Using the right tools for each situation will help you accomplish more in the long run.
⇒ Create a Plan
One of the best tools you can use for creating change is using a planner. The Pamela Shaw 90-day planner is the best daily planner to invest in because it provides guided instructions on structuring your schedule. It is like having a life coach plan your day.
Using a goal setting planner helps you with the two principles mentioned earlier. There are places to list your big goals and areas for breaking it down into an easier to manage, actionable plan. With your growth plan as a guide, you can utilize it to create daily to-do lists and schedule times for each item. This will help you accomplish more with your time and work toward your goals.
At the end of each day or week, there are times to reflect on what you did in getting closer to reaching your goal. This works as a guided journal of sorts to help you keep a record. It is a great way to look back and see how small changes snowball into bigger changes.
There are videos on the Pamela Shaw site you can watch on how to make the most out of your 90-day planner. You can also sign up for weekly email tips that help you stay motivated.
⇒ Focus on Gratitude and Forgiveness
An important part of creating change is expressing gratitude for the things that are good in your life. By focusing on gratitude, you put positive vibrations into your life and acknowledge a higher, holier power. Change that is beneficial and lasting rarely comes from a place of negativity or hate, but rather love and positivity. Nothing fixes this faster than being grateful.
Another attitude that goes hand in hand with gratitude is forgiveness. No one is perfect and that extends into goals and creating change. When you make mistakes or experience a setback, it is important to forgive yourself and move on. If the setback had nothing to do with your efforts, keep a positive attitude and keep pushing forward.
⇒ Never Give Up
It is easy to stay motivated at the beginning of a goal. The hard part comes when you start experiencing that gap between dealing with feeling unmotivated. Take steps to help stay motivated, like posting pictures or creating a plan or vision board in the front of your 90-day planner. Be specific about what you want to change in your life and how it will look. When you feel less motivated, read or look at your planner to remember why you started in the first place.
Something that is so addictive in creating change is realizing the power you have in your own life. Once you improve one area of your life, those desires start to leak into other areas too. Building up the momentum can be hard at first, but never give up. The work is worth it.
Thriving in Purposed Living
Engaging in purposed living means you have less desire to waste time and more dedication to making the most out of your life. It is seeing that living has a purpose and wanting to be a more active participant.
Using the principles discussed in this article can be done over and over again. Once your 90 days are up with one goal, you can move on to another area of your life that needs improvement. Realizing you can change anything in 90 days helps create habits that help you live a better, more fulfilling life.
