How to make a plan to change your life.
If you’ve been thinking to yourself, “I really want to change my life and head in a different direction,” this is awesome!
And you should congratulate yourself for feeling the desire to better yourself, your situation, and your future.
Here’s the thing though.
Figuring out how to do this isn’t always easy.
Life is long and complicated.
And sometimes, things happen really fast.
In fact, they happen faster than we expect.
This means that if you don’t take the initiative to start creating the life you want, it can quickly get away from you—and you can end up living a life that was designed by someone else.
This is very unfortunate.
However, in this blog post, you’re going to learn how to avoid this by learning exactly how to make a plan to change your life; to create the life you actually want.
Believe it or not, you have 100% control over what type of life you live.
All you need to do is stay focused on the end goal and follow these steps.
11 Steps – How To Make A Plan To Change Your Life
1. Figure Out What You Want
How would you like your life to be different?
What would you like your life to look like?
These are very open-ended questions, and you can answer them however you want.
But if you want to learn how to make a plan to change your life, you’ll need to figure out what success means to you.
It’s in your best interest to figure out what the destination is.
What kind of changes would you like to make, and what type of life would you like to be living?
Once you answer these questions for yourself, you’ll have a much better basis for how to go about the process of planning out the details of creating your ideal life.
If you need some help figuring out how to do this, check out this guide: 12 Steps To Finding Your Passion And Purpose In Life.
2. Believe In Yourself
Do you believe that you’re capable of changing your life?
Do you have faith in your ability to create whatever destiny you desire?
This is a tall order.
Not everybody believes in themselves to this degree.
But today, I want to encourage you to start believing in yourself.
You deserve it, and you’re capable.
I’ve never yet met a person who wasn’t completely capable of changing their life for the better—and you are no exception.
3. Set Different Long-Term Goals And Write Them Down
If you want to learn how to make a plan to change your life, it all starts with your long term goals.
What kind of trajectory is your life currently on, and how will it look if you don’t change course?
This is a great question to ask yourself, and it can help you to figure out how you might want to change your long-term goals so that you can put yourself on a different trajectory.
It really all starts with identifying what you want.
That’s like the ‘X’ on the treasure map.
That’s the destination that you want to keep in mind as you begin the process of transforming your life for the better.
Figure out what your new long-term goals should be, and write them down.
Writing them down is a really important part of this process.
Resist the temptation to just lock them away in your brain.
This won’t be nearly as effective.
It’s also in your best interest to write them down as SMART goals.
In other words, make sure that each one of your long-term goals is:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
4. Break Your Long-Term Goals Down Into Short-Term Goals And Daily Tasks
When you set long-term goals for yourself, you’ll want to break them down so that you know exactly what you need to do on a monthly, weekly, and even daily basis to achieve those goals.
When you start breaking down your long-term goals like this, you’ll begin to see the power that comes from getting serious about the process of goal setting.
When you break your goals down into achievable monthly, weekly, and then daily tasks, you turn what could otherwise be seen as large and difficult goals (like getting a college degree, changing careers, learning a new skill, buying a new house, etc.) into very achievable goals that just require a certain amount of effort on a daily basis.
This is an excellent way to create big change over time in small, achievable bursts.
5. Write Down Your Goals Every Day
If you want to change your life, you’re going to need to stay focused on your goals.
This means that you’re going to need to start writing them down every single day.
This is absolutely non-negotiable.
Science tells us that people who write down their goals are simply much more likely to succeed at them than people who don’t.
So do it.
Get yourself a goal planner, or use my free downloadable goal setting sheet, and start writing down those goals.
(Need a bit of extra help? You can also sign up for my email list to get a free copy of my Goal Setting Essentials Start Kit.)
6. Start Replacing Bad Habits With Good Ones
Do you have bad habits that are holding you in place and making it difficult to move forward in life?
If so, consider replacing them one at a time with new, better habits.
For example, if you tend to drink heavily and wake up with hangovers, this is probably going to seriously impede your ability to make progress in certain areas of your life.
Consider replacing your drinking habit with a habit that’s less destructive and bad for your health.
This is just one example of how simple habit changes can have a seriously positive impact on your life, trajectory, and destiny.
7. Start Filling Your Head With More Positivity
Life is a great balance between positive and negative.
On one hand, the negative part of our psyche will try to tell us that we’re not capable of doing great things.
It’ll make us afraid, and cause us to doubt ourselves.
But the positive side is exactly the opposite.
It tells us that we are capable and that we can do whatever we set our minds to.
It’s always a better idea to fill your head with positivity rather than with negativity.
Try to live with power instead of fear.
You can do this by listening to motivational podcasts, reading motivational books, and just in general trying to absorb and maintain more positive thoughts on a daily basis.
8. Start Spending Time Around People Who Are Also Making Positive Changes
Great minds think alike, and birds of a feather flock together.
If you’re constantly spending time with people who don’t care about changing their life or making it better, it’s going to be much more difficult for you to stay on track and stay focused on doing these things in your life.
Jim Rohn said it like this:
“You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
And he was absolutely correct about this.
So if you really want to make forward progress in life, consider finding people who are also on the same journey as you—who want to change their lives for the better, and transform themselves every day in a positive way.
Spending more time with these types of people will have a very positive impact on you, and will help you to stay motivated to succeed.
9. Face Your Fears
All the ‘good stuff’ in life exists on the other side of our fear.
Fear is a big problem.
It’ll often cause us to want to stay in our comfort zone, and will make us hesitant to change our life.
But here’s the thing.
You’ve got to face it if you want to create lasting change.
If you want to transform your life for the better, you’re going to need to face those fears head-on and overcome them.
And unfortunately, there’s just no easy way to do it; other than to stick with it, to keep on pushing, and to refuse to give up.
10. Stay Adaptable
As you set new goals and set out to accomplish those goals, you may have moments where you realize:
“Wow, my goals have changed a little bit.”
And that’s totally fine.
A little bit of shifting and pivoting is to be expected when you’re on a long-term journey to create a better life.
And changing your life is definitely a long-term journey.
So when you’re learning how to make a plan to change your life, be aware of the fact that your goals may change slightly over time, and this is totally okay.
Be adaptable and willing to roll with the punches.
Stay focused on the goal, but be willing to adjust it slightly to make room for new information and a better understanding of yourself and your journey.
11. Stick With It
At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you don’t give up.
The only true way to fail is to give up on the things that matter most.
If you hit challenges and stumbling blocks, you can always pick yourself up, learn from the mistakes, brush yourself off, and try again.
But if you give up, that’s it. It’s game over.
So don’t give up.
Stick with it, and change your life for the better.
It really does matter.
FAQs
How do I begin to change my life?
The best way to begin changing your life is to make a commitment to yourself to do so.
Visualize the kind of future you could have, write down a plan for that future, and realize that if you apply yourself, set your goals, write those goals down on a daily basis, and stick with them—you can transform your life however you desire.
A lot of people don’t believe that they have the power to do this.
But the truth of the matter is that you have complete power over your own life.
You just need to seize it for yourself.
Believe in yourself, and write down those goals!
How do you plan a change in life?
You plan to change in life by first writing down what you want to achieve, and then making a plan to achieve those goals.
This speaks to the process of dreaming big, turning those dreams into goals, and then writing them down to create a roadmap to success.
This is truly how you create your own life and transform your destiny.
How can I change my life in 30 days?
You can make surprisingly significant life changes in just 30 days.
You could start a new workout habit, start budgeting your money, start being more responsible at home and at work, and just strive to be an overall better human, father, mother, friend, sibling, etc.
It’s amazing what we can achieve when we start applying effort to the most important parts of our lives.
And while you are limited in the amount of change you can make within 30 days, you may actually be surprised by how much change you can accomplish within this timeframe.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this post has given you some useful information that’ll help you with learning how to make a plan to change your life—and how this can help you in your goal-setting and life-success journey.
Of course, at the end of the day, this is just another part of the larger, overarching process of turning your dreams into goals, and writing those goals down to create a roadmap for success in your life.
This is how you begin your journey to success and crush it.
You’ve got this. I believe in you.
Now it’s time to get to work.
Best wishes…
Jay O’Donnell