Don't let changing overwhelm you
The idea of change is extremely overwhelming to most people. Even if they do not recognize the idea as overwhelming, implementing change often is. Thus, change is not something you readily see in people's lives. People who are bad with money, usually stay bad with money, even if they win a lottery, or get a raise at work, they will often still struggle to make ends meet. People who can't make their first marriage work, often remarry, and that ends in divorce as well. Change is hard, but it is not impossible, especially if you can get past the overwhelming part of it, and work on yourself.
|
|
The first thing you have to do to not let change overwhelm you is recognize that no matter what challenge you face, or whatever it is you need to get motivated to do, it is possible as long as you develop the skills to do it. For example, money management is not an innate ability, rather it is a skilled learned much like learning to hold a spoon and fork, or use the toilet. If you can look at your obstacles as simply things that you have yet to develop the skill set for, instead of seeing them as impossible, they become very plausible.
The second thing you have to do is figure out what skill set must be developed. If it is money management, you have to learn skills like controlling desires, curbing spending, patience, budgeting, and long-term thinking. If it is losing weight, you have to learn the principles of diet, the principles of exercise, how your body works, how to use the machines at the gym, etc.
The third thing you have to do is choose one of the skills and start working on it. If you need to learn more about budgeting, for example, go online, and read what people who have that skill have to say. They may recommend budgeting weekly, rather than monthly, using cash to create your budget, or to evaluate your current spending habits and mirror your budget after them so that it is more realistic. Learn what you can, do the research, and put what you learn into practice little by little.
The fourth thing you have to do is start on the next skill. Once you learn how to budget, for example, you may need to move on to learning how to curb your spending. You may learn about how to find deals, how to suppress impulse shopping, etc. Build on the skill you already learned, and when you master it, start on the next one until you have a full skill set, so that you are armed and ready to make a real change in your life.
The fifth thing you have to do is allow for human error. You are not perfect, and no real change will occur if the first time you mess up you quit and give up. If you do not stick to your budget for the month, is quitting really going to make you better off than strengthening your resolve and trying again the next month? No. So, remember you are human, and you may mess up, but that it is possible to still change as long as you redevote yourself to your changes.
