Create Your Life Instead of React

"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound." - James Allen

Can you imagine as a kid not passing the 5th grade? Would your parents have stood for that?

Of course not.

We all know we can't spend our whole lives in the 5th grade. We have to keep progressing.

Sadly, most people stop actively progressing after they graduate high school or college. The only time they see significant progress is when they have forced transitions in their life— usually from unexpected challenges or crisis.

But that's not you. You wouldn't be reading this if you were the type of person who was waiting for life to shove you out of your comfort zone.

I'm a HUGE believer in lifelong learning. In taking an active role in creating the life you want. 

You can in fact create your own transitions.

The next few tips I'm going to share will help you start creating your life rather than reacting to it.

Action Triggers

One of my favorite tools to begin creating your life instead of reacting to it is an Action Trigger.

It's as simple as giving the task(s) you want to complete towards your biggest goal(s) a specific time and place you will complete them. 

I know it sounds too easy. But studies have shown that by simply giving your task a specific time and place, you increase your likelihood of doing it by more than 50%!

Of course it has to be something you actually want to do.

You can read more about this in the book Switch by Chip and Dan Heath. (amazon affiliate)

Two ways to make your action triggers even more effective:

1. Get an accountability partner; by reporting your action to a contact or inviting them to join you, your chances of successfully completing your task jump even more.
2. Use a task that's already part of your routine as a prompt to remind you i.e. after you drop the kids off at school, you go directly to the gym. 

"Lessons in life will be repeated until learned." - Frank Sonnenberg

Whenever I feel myself begin to plateau or slow down my progress, I like to start at zero.

There's not better way to force change/progress in your life than to become the student again and be bad at something.

So today I challenge you to get out of your routine and do something you'll probably fail at. It's great practice.

If you're know as the expert in your realm, starting at zero is even more important. The moment we become the "expert", our progress halts.

Rather than waiting for life to throw you a curveball and force you to change. Create change in your own life by starting at zero.

If you've ever wondered whether sharing your story could benefit others, go listen to our latest interview Episode #104: Unlock the Power of Your Story in Three Simple Steps with Mark Leruste who is the author of the new best seller Glow In the Dark. It was super awesome. Mark shared a super simple way to tell your stories in a powerful way.