Personal Change

When you start out on a new direction in life, you probably feel fired up and enthused, ready to do anything. For a few days, that motivation lasts.

But change is often a long, slow and – let’s face it – rather tedious process.If you’ve ever been on a diet, you’ve probably noticed this! And even goals that you might be excited about, like writing a book, require a surprising amount of slogging through on days when you’re unenthused.

So, how can you keep up your motivation over the long-term?

I’ve made plenty of attempts to change my life in some way, in any way. Some changes catch on while others disappear as soon as they appear. The few times that I’ve really experienced effective change that has improved my life, it has come about in very unexpected ways.

This story involves my brother, who has been depressed for about the past decade. My brother was never very outgoing; he was often shy, kept to himself, and had few friends. During college, he really started becoming absorbed into video games. He lost focus of about all other things, and he still has this imbalance in his life, although now it’s perpetuated by his depression.

A few months ago, I gave a speech on personal change based on the research in my latest best-seller Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success. At the end of my presentation, a fellow approached me and said, “You could use this on yourself, couldn’t you?” He then poked me in my rather large stomach and laughed.

In short, “Physician, heal thyself.”

So, I decided it was time to put the principles in Change Anything to work on myself. Sixty pounds lighter, I can now say with great personal resolve that if you understand the principles behind personal influence, you can change anything. Here’s what I’ve learned.

Here’s the paradox: over the age of 50, change gets harder, and yet it can also seem more urgent.

For most of us, life is settled and patterns of behaviour firmly engrained. We may have lived in the same house or town for many years, been together with same partner for just as long and worked in the same field all that time. But just as the notion of retirement begins to loom up ahead on the mental horizon, circumstances or natural processes often conspire to throw us off the track.