5 Ways to Make a Change

Change is hard it really is.  We are creatures of habit, me especially. Sometimes, though you need to change something.  It doesn’t actually matter what that change is. It’s all relative to your world, your goals and your life. So going to the Starbucks instead of the D&D could be just as important to someone as quitting their job to become a stay at home mom.  It just matters that its a change.

1. Set a deadline – By a certain date I will have done the following; gone to Starbucks twice a week.  By a date farther along the road I will have begun to go to Starbucks 5 times in a week.  So on and So on until you get to the date or number of months that you gave yourself to institute this dramatic change.  
2. Get your ducks a row.  You need to know what you are changing and how you are going to do it.  Don’t go off on a tangent and decide you are going to change 10 things, that’s not an attainable goal. Pick 1 thing and work it out in your head.  What ground work do you need to lay to successfully make whatever change you want?
3. Accept that it is scary and exciting, don’t shy away from either in your head.  Some of you will scoff at the change from D&D to Starbucks, but for someone maybe on the spectrum that change could really mess with their world. There are exciting things about changing to Starbucks and there are scary things about leaving D&D.  Play both out in your head, don’t try to ignore one or the other for they both exist and will be heard at some point so try to control what they say to you.
4. We have to do something like 40 times before it becomes habit.  Half of whatever change you are looking to make is probably nothing more than habit.  You are halfway to D&D before you come out of your morning haze.  So part of making a change is turning your habits upside down.  Figure out what those habits are that you need to change so you can consciously start paying attention to them.
5. Stick with it for the same amount of time it took you to make the change in the first place.  If it took you 6 months to successfully implement this change, than you owe it to yourself to stick with it for 6 months. IF it only took a week than give it a week.  If you aren’t happy with it after that then I think its fair to either go back to the way you were doing things or to find another way.