Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Life

by Maria Khalifé

You all know how passionate I am about facilitating change in my life and in the lives of my clients, family and friends. I’d like to share a list with you this week so you can look closely at your own life and find some new ways to improve through changing.

1. Silent Observation. Quietly watch yourself in as objective a manner as you can. Watch your reactions. Watch your thoughts. Watch your activity. Watch how you interact with other people. This is a way of benchmarking yourself at the beginning of any attempts to change.

2. Research Alternatives. The amount of material available to us in this day of the internet is astonishing. Use discrimination and trust your gut instincts to know if something is right for you or not. Read books. Attend lectures. Listen to CDs and DVDs. Create a list of alternatives from which to choose.

3. Choose a Mentor. From the research in #2, you will be drawn intuitively to some authors more than others. Write down their names. Now choose one or two with whom you’d really like to work. Contact them.

4. Do Something Differently. In order to Be the Change, you have to begin somewhere.  Tomorrow, use a different hand to hold the toothbrush when you brush your teeth. Do this for a full week. Observe your feelings on Day 1 and then on Day 7.

5. Do Something that Scares You. Our fears tend to incapacitate us. Choose one thing you are afraid to do and do it anyway. Notice how you feel at the beginning and how you feel at the end. Was the fear bigger than you thought?

6. Write Down Your Daily Plan. You cannot move forward without a plan. When you write your plan down, it’s a form of commitment to accomplish the plan. You may grow to love your To-Do list with all those accomplishments crossed off.

7. Seek Friends Who Want to Improve. The company of friends with goals in common with yours is a wonderful way to stay on track, to keep moving forward, to help you over the bumps in the road, and to stretch yourself like never before.

8. Don’t Share Your Goals With Everyone. Sometimes, friends and family don’t like your ideas and their input can be demoralizing.  Keep your goals to yourself.

9. Join a Master Mind Group. Even if you are the newest, youngest person in the group, you can learn from their expertise and make suggestions yourself from your expertise.

10. Meditate Daily. Your thinking is the propellant into success. It needs quiet time to stay focused and directed. Give it what it wants daily.