If you want change to occur in your life, you should make moves that create the opportunity for change to happen.
dras·tic: likely to have a strong or far-reaching effect; radical and extreme.
Do you ever get tired of being tired?
Like, I'm tired of taking pictures, and if you don't take me home right now so I can get some snackies and take a nap tired.
Ok. All jokes aside, all of us have experienced the emptiness of reaching our end. You have exhausted all of your efforts, gone as far as you can, and you feel like you can not continue.
There are times where this feeling is necessary. Your body is letting you know about your limitations, and at times you can break through those limitations and create something special, and other times you listen and find another way to create change. Following those cues and deciding what your next step needs to be is the key.
Your body is letting you know about your limitations, sometimes you break through those and create something special, other times you listen and find another way to create change.
There is one HUGE decision that you can make that can be absolutely destructive to the change you want to create and here is the secret: There are so many of us who do this exact thing on a day-to-day basis. You already know what it is. We all hate it, and yet many of us still do it. Like hoping that the remote control will magically move closer to us when we put it just too far for us to reach... The worst decision we can make is knowing that we need to make a change, ignoring the fact, hoping we will have more time for that change to happen. Spoiler alert: no change happens by mistake. You have to create the opportunity for change to happen in your life, anything else is just wishful thinking.
You have to create the opportunity for change to happen in your life.
There are three levels to change that you can create. Many people typically spend most of their life going between one and two, while some tap into the third.
1. Passive / Eventual Change
Passive / Eventual change is low engagement and seems low risk but highly risks your future and purpose. Very little change can happen at this level of engagement. Here, we live life as it comes, rarely engaging our passions and applying minimal effort towards actual change happening in our life. Maybe we throw in a little hope and can have strong desires to have change in our life, but there are rarely, if ever, actual steps being taken to accompany those desires. This option seems safe and in many ways, it can be. There is no actual risk-taking that happens here, however, the risk factor is loaded onto your potential future instead. This doesn't bother most people, for one specific reason. We can't fathom what we are truly capable of, so we never see just how much we are throwing away. But what would happen if we could actually see what we are risking, by "taking it easy" and ignoring the changes that need to happen.
We can't fathom what we are truly capable of, so we never see just how much we are throwing away.
2. Commitment Led Change
Commitment Led Change is moderate to high engagement with typically moderate risk and with varying results. This is the sweet spot and it's where we should aim to stay when leading ourselves towards change. Passive change risks your future, and our third option has value, but is hard to sustain. With commitment and discipline, you can sustain change that you have created and constantly "chip away" at the change you want to create in your future. Good leaders lead a lifestyle of discipline, they have a plan to create change and seldom feel that they stumble upon it. Intentionality is a huge key here.
3. Drastic & Radical Change
I need change, and I need it now. Drastic & Radical Change involves very high engagement and can be low to high risk with results guaranteed (but not always positive). The main question here is why are the decisions being made drastic or radical? Each person has a relative reason for why certain things may be radical to them. It may push them out of their comfort zone drastically and is, therefore, a radical change in their life, but does not necessarily come with high risks associated. On the other hand, it may be drastic simply due to the high risk involved within the decision. Either way, drastic decisions are going to produce results, sometimes things will fail, however, there is ALWAYS value to making drastic decisions, and you can create safe boundaries that will help minimize the risk you are taking. I know, when I quit my job because I knew it was time to dive into my own business, it was a huge risk!!! And yet, I created a life that I am truly filled with joy in and every day feel myself becoming a better man who is stepping towards his purpose.
Drastic decisions are going to produce results, sometimes things will fail, however, there is ALWAYS value to making drastic decisions.
The key here is a decision has been made and commitment goes into full force! You create high-level boundaries that stop you from pulling back and dive full in towards the change you want to create. The beneficial aspect of this is that instead of forcing or creating the change to happen in your life, what you are truly doing is creating an atmosphere that is prepared for the change to happen. By making drastic shifts in your life you are creating an atmosphere that is ready for the change to come. When you couple this with discipline and commitment, whewwwww, there is no stopping you!
Reality Check
When you make drastic changes you are going to doubt yourself, questioning if you made the right decision. But here's the thing, you already chose, so commit and keep going, create the results you want to see.
Passive change keeps you miserable, we all have a more drastic way to approach our change, you don't need to make drastic changes long term, but you do need to do it to see real change. Living passively feels safe, but you are risking your purpose by choosing to not engage your life and allowing it to engage you.
Always operate in the wisdom you have available to you. Seek guidance, consider your loved ones heavily, then decide. Just don't play it too safe.
Do you want to make changes in your life but need specific guidance on how to do so? You would benefit from having a coach! Schedule a free consultation with me to see how you would benefit from having a coach that can guide you through creating lasting change in your life.