Self Improvement Month Primer

30 Days to the New and Improved You –

Introduction

I am not a fan of quick self-improvement. I believe change takes time to actually get it at what I call a cellular level. However, I also believe you have to start somewhere and where you are right now is a great place. I also believe that if you commit to creating change in the next 30 days you will be well on your way to creating the life you have dreamed of and deserve. If you focus your attention on yourself and your own self-improvement for the next 30 days I will guarantee that you will see a new and improved you. I also know that you will have created the momentum to keep you going.

Yes you can have a New and Improved You in the next 30 days, but you can’t stop there. You will have to keep it up, keep going and keep improving. I love the quote, “When we are green we are growing and when we are ripe we rot.” What that means is as long as you are willing to keep on growing, keep on becoming the best you can be and keep on being willing to make the tweaks and changes necessary, you will always be growing. The minute you think you know all you need to know, have changed all you need to change and don’t need to do anything different, you start to rot. Life is a process of continual change and you have just taken the next step in this life long process. Congratulations, and don’t stop there. There will always be room for growth, change and improvement. Throughout your life you will be creating the New and Improved You.

I remember going to the grocery store and seeing my favorite laundry soap with a label on it that said, “New and Improved.” I thought to myself, “What have I been using, Old and Yucky?” I reluctantly bought the detergent and was pleasantly surprised. It WAS New and Improve. However what I liked most about it, the scent, the quality and the results were all still there, if not better. When you become New and Improved, you won’t be changing everything about yourself. You will be making small changes, maybe even tweaks to who you are right now. See, you are perfect just the way you are, and only getting better. The New and Improved you will be bringing out the best in you building on who you are and what you are already doing. The good news is you don’t have to start from scratch; you can build on the foundation you have already started.

For the next 30 days commit to your own self-improvement. Pick just one area of your life and focus your attention in that area. Oh I know it is tempting to say, “Hey I will just change it all.” That is the recipe for disappointment and failure. It is too much too soon. The exciting news here is that when you start to change one area of your life, often other areas improve as well. And of course we know that we can’t change other people, however when you begin to change you might notice the people around you will respond to your differently. That is just a bonus of this process. I might also warn that there are times when people will self-select out of your life because they want you to remain the same and won’t be happy with the New and Improved You. That is part of the process as well so just be aware.

The next 30 days will be exciting, scary, happy, sad, surprising, disappointing and everything in-between. When you begin to change there will be parts of you that will resist. Those parts of you that are happy with how things are, or at least comfortable, won’t want to change. You might see some self-sabotaging going on. That is part of the process, but don’t let it stop you.

We talk to ourselves constantly. This talk comes in the form of thoughts. Research has discovered that we have roughly 60,000 thoughts a day. A majority of those thoughts are negative and up to 90% of the thoughts you think today were the same as the day before. One of the ways to begin to change from the outside in is to monitor your thoughts and begin to change them. This will take time and we will be looking at that as we go through the next 30 Days. For now just be aware of your thoughts and notice if what you are thinking is supportive or not.

So strap on the seat belt and get ready for a fast and fun ride. For the next 30 days you will be focusing on you, your life and how you will improve it. This is going to be challenging and at times hard work. But you are worth it and you deserve to have the best life for you possible. That is what I want for you and I trust that is what you want for yourself.

Tomorrow I will begin posting ideas, tips and suggestions on how you can improve yourself. But I am not the only expert, you are an expert on your life even more than I am. Feel free to adapt the advice I give to fit your own situation, needs and desires. And by all means share what you come up with on this blog so we can all learn from each each other.

So here is to the next 30 Days.

Live the Day

Rachelle