Do You Dream About Starting a New Life?

Birds flying high 🎶 You know how I feel 🎶

Kerrrrrrrrrrr bbbbbbbbrrr psssssssssssssssssssst

My favorite Michael Bublé CD skipped and quit on me.

I turned off my radio and said, “I’ll take it from here, Michael.”

🎶 Sun in the sky, you know how I feel,

Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel,

It’s a new dawn,

It’s a new day,

IT’S A NEW LIFE FOR ME,

and I’m feeling GOOOOOD….. 🎶

Every time I get in my car, I play the song, Feeling Good by Michael Bublé, I have done this for years so I know all the words by heart.

It is a habit and it has helped me face whatever challenge or adventure that I am driving to with a fresh and bold outlook.

I did not realize, years ago that I was creating this empowering habit of listening to music, that put me in the right frame of mind on the way to a meeting or event, that I may have been dreading.

Do you have any empowering habits like this?

Unfortunately, most of us have dis-empowering habits that instead of “Feeling Good” they drag us down.

Can a habit give you the confidence to start a new life?

During the Pandemic, many of us dreamed about starting a new life by starting a business. According to Peterson Institute of International Economics, “startup business activity grew in the United States last year—business startups grew from 3.5 million in 2019 to 4.4 million in 2020, a 24 percent increase. The number of new businesses also increased in Chile, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.”

Read more about this here. If you are one of these individuals who started a new business, Congratulations! Now what fresh habits will help you sustain that brand-new life and brand-new business.

Dream About Starting a New Life?

Before I get into the details of how you can actually start a brand-new life, I would like you to think back about a time in your past when you have successfully started a new life, perhaps when you started college, you started life anew.

Perhaps when you married the man / woman of your dreams or perhaps when you divorced the man / woman of your nightmares, or perhaps when you moved to a different town.

As little kids, you started a new life when you started Kindergarten. You didn’t have much of choice but you started school, meeting unique people, and having different rules than your parents.

If you have ever had to start a new life before… Take a few minutes and congratulate yourself for this.

Yay YOU!

YOU GOT THIS!

Think back to when you were starting a new life, what fresh habits did you have to develop?

In the example of moving to a different town, the habit required was going to different grocery stores or ordering to food to be delivered.

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time.” Mark Twain

Now Let’s Create 1 Small Habit Towards Your New Life:

1. Dream about your new life – Grab a journal or a tool like Evernote and think about the new life that you want for yourself, take time to dream, visualize (look at your vision board) and journal about this new life and who you will need to become. What new habit or habits do you need to develop to reach this new life?

2. Don’t try to change your world overnight. Look at what you have written down did you write down several habits? Start with just one new habit and then go from there.

3. Start Small & Fun – Scale it down to the first step or mini habit that you can do. Knowing that most habit formation fails because you’re trying to do too much too soon, then make a point to keep the changes very small. Mini-habits have a much higher rate of success than trying to create a great big change. Look for a way to make your habit fun like the example of the “Feeling Good” song, you could add music to your workout routine or healthy meal.

4. Make a commitment. Not every habit is created equal, and some take longer to embed in your mind than others. But, one thing is true. The longer you perform the same activity day after day, the more success you will have in creating that habit. Decide right now that you’re going to give this habit at least 3 – 4 weeks to give it a proper start.

5. Link the habit to something that already works. If you have a successful habit already in place, ask yourself what small thing you can attach to that habit. For example, you might already be brushing your teeth every day. How hard would it be to add flossing to that routine.

6. Have a back up plan in place. Knowing that things are going to go wrong from the start helps you to be ready when they do. Can’t jog today because it’s raining? That’s ok, you’ve got an entirely different workout in place as a Plan B.

7. Grab a friend. The only way to keep on track, especially when building habits, is to use your network. Have an accountability partner or use social media to keep you honest.

8. Reward Yourself – Celebrate every little milestone with a reward, something that makes sense and will encourage you to keep going when you’re wearing down.

9. Redesign Yourself – Accept that this is the new you. The habits you’re building are going to change who you are – hopefully for the better. Embrace the new identity.

By following these steps, you not only will succeed but over time you’ll see some amazing growth and development as a person. That’s pretty exciting, especially when you consider how easy and enjoyable the journey was along the way.