Copyright (c) 2010 Soaring Eagle Companies LLC

We've all been there. Some important landmark event (New Year's Day, our 30th birthday, the birth of our first child) spurs us to vow to change...something. Maybe it's our weight, maybe our job, maybe start a business, or maybe just our attitude. We plunge in...motivated, determined and maybe even successful...for a little while.

Pretty soon another year has gone by and we find that we are back exactly where we were the year before. What happened? Why couldn't we sustain the changes we so desperately wanted to make?

There are a lot of reasons why things may not have worked out, but probably one of the most common is trying to change too much at once. In our never ending search for the quick fix, we undergo drastic changes in short periods of time and we get results.

The problem is that we forget we are creatures of habit. It is difficult to make changes that become new habits. If we move too quickly, we soon become discouraged, tired, and long for our "old life back." The new is just too much work and we give up. How can you make lifelong changes?

With careful thorough, knowledge of yourself and your limitations, you can make changes. Changing your eating habits is something that many people struggle with (and feel guilty about), so we will use that as an example.

Many people when they start dieting do exactly that...start dieting. They make changes in their eating that, in their mind, are temporary. Once they lose the extra weight, they just go back to eating the way they always have. So, they make their weight loss goals, go off the "diet" and pretty soon the weight starts coming back on and the cycle starts all over again.

What if you took a different approach? What if you started small? Maybe you can identify one thing that you could change—learning to eat breakfast, a salad for lunch, it doesn't really matter what the change is as long as it will result in a healthier choice and it is something you can life with—forever. What if you made that change not to lose weight, but just because it was healthier and made you feel better?

Starting a business by calling 4 people a day, but make it a habit. Once you get this completed as a habit then move to 5 or 8 or even 20 people a day but make it a habit.Taking the baby steps into larger thing along the way.

We are creatures of habit, but time goes quickly. Two weeks after you make that change, you probably won't even think about the fact that you made the change—it is now part of your new routine. Oh and you probably lost a little weight in the process, or you at least feel better.

Some changes are bigger and require longer to get used to (getting all the white sugar out of your diet for exampleor making 25 calls a day for your business) and maybe you can't do it all at once. Maybe you recognize that you can never totally make a change (like getting all white sugar out of your diet forever). But you recognize that you can cut out desserts most of the time and switch to a lower calories sweetener.

Again, a few weeks go by and now you don't even think about dessert most of the time. And now you have lost more weight and are feeling even better. If you do your best to make a change, even if it is a little at a time, you will get the big results.

One year later, instead of making no progress at all, maybe you are 20, 30, or even 40 pounds lighter. You may have 30,50, or 100 people in your downline. You may not have added 1500 to your downline, but even 24 is a great job, or maybe you are not the 100 pounds lighter that you were shooting for, but you are certainly going on the right direction. And, because you have not made changes you can't live with, you are much more likely to ultimately make your goal and, more importantly, stay there.

You don't have to make huge changes all at once and you can find something you can live with. Just keep trying until you find something that works. It doesn't matter how fast you finish the race as long as you get the finish line.

When you are through changing, you are through. Bruce Barton