Everyone has a dream about the kind of life they want for themselves, even if they don’t want to admit it aloud. And I’m a firm believer that regardless of your circumstances, you can absolutely live the life you imagine for yourself. But, you have to be willing to do the work that gets you there. Sometimes that means creating a complete transformation of your life and business.
A Healthy Mindset Is Critical To Creating A Successful Transformation!
Transformation is a big word that gets through around a lot. And it can feel a little scary and intimidating to think about applying it to your life. But it doesn’t have to be. It’s simply a dramatic change from one thing to another thing. The part that makes it scary is that we generally don’t like change. It means stepping outside our comfort zone. And, our mind, our inner critic, immediately gets busy protecting us by telling us all the reasons we shouldn’t do it; or worse why we can’t do it.
Since we live here in a physical world with real life requirements some of those reasons will seem like serious obstacles to running a business or living your dream life. For instance you might be a single mom juggling teenagers and caring for elderly parents so you have very little time or money to invest in starting a business. It might be that you already have a full-time job and you’re trying to build a side-hustle so you’re pressed for time. It could be that you’re dealing with all of those things at once!
If you don’t have a healthy mindset, you could let all of the obstacles get you down and keep you from reaching your ultimate goals. You could believe your inner critic and never even get started. But successful people that work on their mindsets know that obstacles can often be turned into opportunities to better yourself and your business. It could even help to create a total transformation that lets you truly live the life you’ve imagined for yourself.
Reframing The Negative For A Positive Transformation
The key to creating transformation in your life and business is to do it in baby steps. Then it’s a whole lot less scary. You can do this through the creation of tiny habits and consciously ‘reframing’ your thoughts. Reframing your thoughts is especially helpful when facing obstacles or dealing with your inner critic.
You might say things like, “I don’t have enough money to afford that expensive marketing course. I don’t have enough time to build a side-hustle so I can walk away from my job.”
Reframe these thoughts and you might actually find obstacles can become an advantage. For example, you could say, “Since my budget is tight, I don’t waste money on shiny objects. This helps me stay focused in my business. Because I’m pressed for time, I have to be choosy about the projects I take on. This helps ensure I pick projects that are the best match for my skills.”
Look For Creative Solutions
Another helpful tactic for dealing with obstacles is to look for creative solutions. There are many stories of entrepreneurs who were looking to fix a problem they were experiencing and in the process created a product that they went on to sell.
Take a moment and write down 10 possible solutions to your current obstacle. Keep in mind these solutions don’t have to be plausible. They can be as bizarre as you want because the point is to get into a creative space. Once you’re inside the creative flow, it’ll be easier to see ways you could turn your obstacle into an opportunity.
Taming Your Inner Critic
Your inner critic can be particularly vocal when you’re trying to change some aspect of your life or business for the better. One technique I use to help with that is to take the time to acknowledge that it’s just trying to protect me and then reframe or change the comments into positive ones that I can fully accept and believe.
That last part of the statement is critical. If I can’t fully accept and believe the reframed statement then my inner critic isn’t going to stop nagging me on that topic. So if my mindset said something like “You’re too fat and lazy to run a business” I would stop and take a deep breath, then I’d say something like, “thanks for trying to protect me from failing. I know I can run this business because I’m smart, I’m passionate and I work hard. Being fat has nothing do with it.” Those are all statements I could fully accept and believe. And over time, my inner critic did too.
Take some time to actually listen to the conversations you’re having with yourself, especially when you’re about do something hard, new, or scary. What are you saying to yourself in those moments? How many times do you call yourself stupid, or lazy, or too loud or too shy or say you can’t do something?
These conversations go on in your head so often you become oblivious to them. They just go on in the background shaping your mindset on a daily basis. But you can change that. Every time you start saying negative stuff to or about yourself, interrupt that thought and reframe it to something positive. Like if your inner critic is saying “I suck at math it’s just so hard.” You can change that statement to say “math is hard, but with a little patience, I can learn hard things.” The most important part of the statement is that it be one that you can fully accept and believe. That’s how you start to change your mindset to support you in creating your transformation.
Tiny Habits Total Transformation
One other technique I want to share with you is the idea of creating tiny habits that support your transformation. Unlike goal oriented habits these tiny habits are identity based. We started this article off talking about living your dream life. So what is that for you? What does your dream life look like for you? Who do you have to be to live it? Once you’ve figured it out, then you create tiny habits that move you in that direction.
For instance, if in your dream life your house is always neat and clean, what tiny habit can you establish now to help move you in that direction? Maybe, you create a habit that after you eat you clean up after yourself so that the dishes don’t pile up in the sink. Or if you want to write a book, maybe you set aside two minutes every day to sit somewhere and write. Of course, if after two minutes is up, you’re in the flow and want to keep writing please do! The point is to make it a tiny habit you can commit to and then build on it.
A great book that can help with the idea of creating tiny habits is Atomic Habits by James Clear. It was a tremendous help for me in creating habits to transform my own life
Conclusion
These three techniques; changing how you see obstacles, reshaping your mindset and establishing tiny habits that support you in being your best version of yourself all work together to help you create transformation in your life and business without being totally overwhelmed by the effort. This is why I believe anyone, including you can live the life of their dreams if they’re willing to do the work to make it happen.
Here’s to your transformation!
What great techniques to help transform life. I always like to think positive and have a positive attitude, I think that’s a big part of helping with obstacles.
Thanks Martha, I absolutely agree with you!
This was a great post and I loved the wonderful suggestions. I really related to being my own worst enemy so to speak. Sadly, many times I find flaws instead of possibilities. But I have found that if you look at one step at a time instead of the whole goal, is is much easier and less stressful. I like the brainstorming idea and will have to try it. Thanks again for the informational post.
Thanks Sam! I think so many of us have learned to focus on our flaws rather than the possitives. Taking our goals one step at a time and learning to change our self-talk definitely helps.
Pam, yes to everything you’re saying! All super positive elements of getting the transformation you/I/we want! Thanks for a solid and positive piece.
Thank you so much Kebba!
Ah, yes… in theory, this is what I do. Probably not often enough!
Thanks Roy!