Wings of Change – Change Your Life Articles

People dream big all the time. But it’s the people that take action to reach their goals that truly succeed in life. It’s a huge task to take on, but when you break down your journey into simple steps, anything is achievable. Decide on your goal and follow through, it really can be as simple as that.

The Big Picture

It truly doesn’t matter what your goal is, you can achieve it by combining the will to succeed with action. There are many possible excuses and many people that will try to bring you down, it’s just the way of life. While these things may not change, your attitude can.

The first thing you need to do is create a personal definition of success. What are you trying to do? What is your ultimate goal?

Remember, the answer can be anything your heart desires. Maybe you want to start a video game development business, or maybe you want to be an Olympic swimmer. Everyone is different, but it’s important to have a well-defined goal. Don’t be afraid to be specific and to list a goal even if you’re lacking the confidence to achieve it.

The Process

After you have your definition of success, it’s time to break it down and make it happen. Success will happen just by completing one small task at a time from your plan.

Let’s say your ultimate goal is to own a video game development business. You currently work at a dead end job and you have little revenue to use towards your goal, so you assume it’ll never happen and you just go about your day. But what if you took just 20 minutes each day and worked toward your goal?

Here are some of the things you might accomplish:

1. You can research how much money it would take to start up your business.
2. You can learn the ins and outs of the industry by reviewing different courses and training programs.
3. You can make appointment to meet with banks or companies as potential investors.
4. You can contact independent game developers that may be willing to take on extra work at a reasonable cost.
5. You can research and formulate marketing tactics.
6. You can create a 5-year plan.

While the business entails a great deal more than these 6 steps, you get the idea of what it means to break down a huge task into smaller parts. If you don’t break it down, it’ll seem too overwhelming and you won’t even know where to start – so you won’t get started at all!

But when you decide to spend a little time on a small project, like researching marketing tactics and saving some web links, that’s definitely something you can accomplish in an afternoon. And it brings you one step closer to your goal.

Something Is Always Better Than Nothing

You now know that some action is always better than no action towards your goal. It may sound trite, but you’ll never get there if you don’t try. Just think of how far along you might be if you spend 20 minutes a day on your goal for a whole year. That’s a great deal of small, manageable projects!

You owe it to yourself to make your dreams come true, so go get started!

You’ll never know what you’re truly good at until you give different things a try. When you take action to find your strengths, you just might surprise yourself. Perhaps there’s something you’ve always wanted to try, but you think that you wouldn’t be any good at it. You simply won’t know until you try!

When you discover your talents, it can be an eye opening and fulfilling experience for you. The things you’re good at are often things you enjoy doing the most. Your talents could even stem into a full-blown career where you wouldn’t only be helping yourself, you’d be helping others too.

Finding your talents may be tricky, that’s why we came up with 6 simple tips:

1. Follow Your Current Interests. A great place to start is to reflect on your current interests. This will guarantee that you’ll enjoy what you’re doing when you discover your hidden talents. An example would be if you love music, consider pursuing an active role in the creation of music instead of just remaining a fan. You could take up an instrument or learn more about the technical aspects such as sound mixing.
2. Step Outside of the Comfort Zone. Of course, stepping outside of your comfort zone may be difficult at first. No one likes to feel vulnerable, but you’ll also hear people saying that they’re glad that they stepped outside of their comfort zone. The fact is you won’t be able to discover new talents if you’re not open to new things and experiences.
3. Travel. Traveling around the world or your home country can open you up to new experiences. It’s a great way to step outside of your comfort zone and take in other cultures. When you travel, you’ll get new ideas and make new discoveries, but if you stay at home, your thinking may be limited by routine. Some things you might discover are artistic or athletic talents, or you may even be inspired to pursue new career goals.
4. Reading. Travelling may not always be an option. It can be pricey and time consuming, but reading is a great way to open up the creative juices while staying home. You can read books on any subject that piques your interest. Also, don’t forget about the power of the internet and all of the reading materials that are available only a search away.
5. Take Community Classes. Community classes are an excellent way to discover talents for quite a few reasons. One is the fact that they’re so close and accessible to you. Also, they’re usually offered at affordable prices. Once you’ve chosen a class to attend, you’ll get a good idea about the subject over the span of the course. At the end, you can decide whether or not it’s right for you. If not, you can move on and try a different course until you find one that meshes well with your needs and desires.
6. Talk With Friends. Keep open dialogues going with your friends and colleagues. Talk about how they discovered their passion and what they did to sharpen their skills. Perhaps you’ll find that you have similar interests among your friends, and if so, you can then pursue theses interests together.

Don’t Give Up

In the end, the only thing you need to discover your talents is the will to keep trying. Once you’ve found your true talents, you’ll enjoy fulfillment, success, fun, and happiness. Who wouldn’t want a life filled with that?

Now more than ever, it’s important to secure your financial future. If the chips are ever down, you’ll at least have a plan to turn to for help.

It’s true that you should put your whole heart in your main source of income. When you work hard enough with a drive to succeed, nothing will keep you away from that success. However, unexpected circumstances come into play every so often, so you may need to divert to Plan B temporarily.

Here are some ideas for building a rock-solid Plan B:

1. Develop Multiple Streams of Income. When your main stream of income is sufficient to sustain your family, you may be tempted to rely on that income alone. However, it’s always a good idea to insulate and supplement that income. You may think you don’t absolutely need the money, but you can always save for future unexpected expenses.
2. Add to Your Savings. You’ll need to realize that even small contributions will add up to something big before you know it. Shop around for a high yield savings account. Tell yourself that you’ll add a fixed amount to the fund each month. Have an automatic withdrawal every month even if you can only afford $10 or $25 at a time. Over the long run this really adds up!
3. 3. Develop Your Skills. Always be on the look out for opportunities to improve your current skill set, or to develop completely new skills. This will give you back up career opportunities. If you pigeon hole yourself into one set career, you’ll be scrambling if something unexpected happens. While it’ll still be a bummer if Plan A falls through, it’ll feel so much better when you can launch into Plan B without panicking.
4. Make Contacts and Establish Good Relationships. You’ve probably heard the saying: “Don’t burn your bridges.” You truly never know when you might want to walk a certain path, so don’t close any doors hastily. Also, remain open and make contacts wherever you can. You might just be hanging out at the gym after work, but you never know what kind of friendship you can drum up, and how that person may be able to help you out in the future.
5. Write Out Your Plans. It’s vital to maintain a certain amount of organization in your plans. When establishing your life’s Plan A and Plan B, it’ll really help to write everything down. Have separate lists for your short term and long term financial goals. Cross off goals as you meet them. This way you’ve got a written reminder of your progress. If Plan B comes into play, you’ll have written instructions and you won’t have to worry.

• Look for other opportunities for side jobs in your field
• Turn a hobby into a money maker
• Consider wise investments to grow money faster

Making Wise Choices

When it comes down to deciding what you should do with your money, remember to always invest in some sure bets. You don’t want to gamble with your money expecting greater gains. Your best bet is to find a middle ground. Decide on a certain amount of money that automatically goes into a savings account and can’t be touched.

When you have a nest egg for unexpected life events, it gives you time to execute your Plan B. If you’re lucky enough to have extra cash coming in, you can then decide to be riskier with your financial decisions. As long as you know you have enough money coming in, it may be worth your time and investment.

Your instincts will often kick in and tell you to resist change. This might happen without you even noticing it. This happens because the body and mind are always looking for stability and balance.

However, whether you like it or not, the world is ever changing. If you don’t learn to change with it, your life will eventually become stale and unexciting. If everything stays the same your whole life, you won’t be reaching your ultimate calling and your level of happiness and success will be mediocre at best.

The good news is that there are steps you can take to learn to conquer your resistance to change. You’ll learn that it doesn’t have to be a huge insurmountable task; you can work slowly and efficiently to gradually allow the change into your life.

Instigate Changes Daily

One thing you can do to start getting used to the idea of change is to familiarize yourself with the feeling on a daily basis. These don’t need to be large changes, but when you make the effort to step out of your comfort zone a little each day, you’ll start to see life from a different perspective.

When you make small changes, you’ll actually evolve your daily routine. You’ll discover quicker and more efficient ways of doing things. Also, since you’re engaging in small changes, it won’t feel as shocking to you and you likely won’t feel an intense urge to resist.

The small changes can be as simple as trying different kinds of toothpaste, or reorganizing the files on your computer in a different manner. They seem like boring tasks but this will set you up for a renewed mindset.

Take A Different Route To Work

You may be used to taking the same route to work every day simply because it’s the shortest. Your brain then becomes so used to the routine that you’re basically on autopilot.

Taking a different route may take you longer to get there, but it’ll open you up to change. You’ll have to think about where you’re driving and remain aware of your surroundings.

Eat Different Foods

You may think that you already know what you like and don’t like. It’s easy to fall into the routine of eating basically the same meals each and every week. However, your diet can be an excellent way to bring about change in your life in a non-threatening way.

There are endless recipes and combinations of food out there. There are also many styles and cultures available when it comes to cooking your food. You can make a goal with yourself to try adding something new to your diet every week. You may end up not enjoying what you ate, but when you’re trying 52 new meals per year, you’re bound to find some new gems!

Remind Yourself What Change Has Brought You

At the end of the day, remember all the wonderful new experiences and relationships that change has brought you. While there are inevitably bad things, there are sure to be many great things as well. When you concentrate on the positive, you’ll keep up a good attitude.

Keep in mind that change is good for you. Since nothing in life is static, you need to make change a normal part of your life. You need to be willing to move yourself forward to reach your ultimate goals. When you do, you’ll find that you’re happier and more fulfilled in life!

Deep down you know that there is simply nothing you can do to change the past. No matter how many times you wish you’d done something differently, the past will always remain the past.

You must find a way to, once and for all, be done with your regretful feelings. When you continue to fret over the past, you allow negative feelings to consume more and more of your life. Once you’ve put a stop to it, you can think positively again and your future will be brighter.

Getting Caught Up In The Past

It’s easy to get caught up in the past. Nobody’s perfect and, no matter how hard you try, you’ll still continue to make mistakes. It’s how you handle the mistakes that will make the true difference in your life.

If you’ve made a mistake or suffered a tragedy in the recent past, don’t allow the tragedy to replay in your head over and over. You’ll continue to relive the negative feels as if you were continually going through the tragedy. No one deserves this! Instead, you have two choices, you can actively work on correcting your mistake, or you can let the feelings go because they’re not helpful to you in that moment.

Learn From Your Mistakes

There are lessons to be learned in every mistake you make no matter how minor it might be. The goal is to work on discovering what these lessons are.

When negative feelings surround you regarding your past, focus on the lesson learned. Maybe you would have never learned that lesson without the mistake. And now that you’ve gained this wisdom you can avoid making that mistake again in the future.

You can take everything one step further and do more with the lessons you’ve learned. Perhaps you can raise awareness by telling others about your experience. If you can help others avoid the same mistakes, you’ll be doing something great for the world. It’ll also help you feel better about the situation.

Avoid Resentment

You need to do your best to avoid resentment and all negative emotions. Resentment is a poisonous emotion that can go out of control if you don’t deal with it. You’ve probably heard of people who have had a falling out with a family member and resentment keeps them apart for the better part of their lives. Think about all the good times they’ve missed out on because of this bitterness!

Let It Go

Depending on what you’ve gone through, there may be a mourning period associated with your situation, but you’ll eventually need to let it go. Since you know that nothing can change the past, letting go can prove to be very liberating.

When you let it all go, you learn to forgive yourself and forgive others. Forgiveness is such an important thing to promote in your life. It allows you to grow as a person and blossom forward to enjoy all that life has to offer. You weren’t meant to sit around mourning the past no matter how tragic it’s been for you.

How Negative Thinking Hurts You

When it comes down to it, sometimes you keep telling yourself you’re over it but the negative thinking keeps creeping back into your life. You need to fully realize that the only person you’re hurting is yourself.

Let’s say you’ve hurt someone’s feelings. You may think about this day and night until you can’t take it anymore, and you have to seek this person out to apologize. The person might not even remember what happened, or they may just accept your apology. The point is you suffered with negative thoughts until you sought forgiveness.

There’s no need to cause yourself severe suffering because you made a mistake, instead seek peace and resolution, then move forward with your head held high!