"Change Catalyst"

This year has been life changing just 22 days into it. They say it takes 21 days to develop a habit and it feels true!

Often when we think of making changes in our life we develop a list that becomes idealistic--the perfect picture--we say to ourselves, "Here are all the ways I need and want to change". We think of all that needs to happen this year and we think we are going to do it. Unfortunately we become so set in the rythem of our days and lives that to attempt to change more then 1 or 2 things becomes almost impossible all at once.

To actually follow through on this idealistic picture becomes daunting and discouraging once we realize it's been 10 days without following through. Days become weeks, weeks months and before we know it it's new years again and almost nothing we had great intentions to do came to fruition. The real challenge is...

years can become decades without real change, without shifting your life in the real direction you want.

This year I decided to take the simple approach. I thought; "what are the most important things in my life that are lacking that would create the most fulfillment and personal change".

The first thing was my health and the second was reading the Bible consistently

I had to be specific and keep it simple because the key is; success at a small level that triggers larger changes.

I call this a "Change catalyst"--That small commitment that creates a wake of new habits and personal change

I committed to 50 crunches every day this year and read something everyday in the bible

2 very simple commitments that could take as little as 10 minutes to achieve

Everyday is key because it creates new habits--New habits lead to other new habits....

Crunches has lead for a desire to eat better, increasing the number of crunches to 100 per day, now I added push ups every day, other exercise has been added and the affects on my life already are tremendous. It all started from 7 minutes on the floor a day!

Reading the bible daily has inspired me to dig in and learn as much as possible--the words have become alive like never before---God is teaching me so much through his word and this has led to all kinds of positive changes in my life

Now my favorite part of the day is to do these 2 things everyday

Perhaps even more important then the actual events I'm doing is the fact that I committed and followed through, I'm developing an identity that I do what I say I will do to myself--to myself is the key. This is the real change--the fact that when I say I will do something I have to do it because that's who I am. I'm a person that does what I say I'm going to do...

The MOST important aspect of following through on these small commitments was telling the people I lead in business them and to hold me accountable. I announced them on a conference call I ran at the first of the year. Now it's beyond what I feel like doing--we have to have a pull on us beyond our own feelings. We will seldom feel like doing things uncomfortable but I've noticed that the good things for us to do usually involve getting uncomfortable. Leverage is the key to follow through!