Image by: Unsplash
By Ronnie Toofan

It’s easy to create change. You can change your haircut, the way you groom yourself, or your entire wardrobe to feel more confident about yourself. You can switch up your routines, travel, or order an unfamiliar dish to try something new or to be more adventurous. You can also renovate or reorganize your room to make yourself feel better.

However, these things don’t last long. It’s only a matter of time before you get bored again and think of shifting things around again.

So today, I thought of challenging you a little and daring you to create an exceptional change in your life – something that will really turn your life around, encourage you to do something awesome and push you to become more!

Exceptional change is definitely far from simple or easy. It is something that can make you cry, sweat and feel very uneasy. And it can only be achieved by breaking through your boundaries and facing your fears.

But before you think of something, here are some questions that will guide you in becoming exceptional and help you in achieving your wildest goals.

What Are the Things That You Want to Accomplish?

The problem with most people when it comes to goal-setting is that they come up with something that is either too broad or not specifically defined enough like “I want to lose weight” or too far from reality like “I will keep my phone off during my rest day.” Doing it this way can set you up for failure.

The right way to do it is to define precisely where you want to end up and set a timeline for yourself. For example, if you want to save $12,000 by the end of the year, then you should start setting aside $500 per month or $125 per week. Having a deadline will also give you a sense of urgency and something to celebrate about.

To make 2017 yours and to understand how goal achievement really works, Entrepreneur recommends taking the Goal Standard Challenge. This program will help you design a goal that is achievable for you and provide actionable tips, downloadable worksheets and insights from experts to keep you moving forward.

Who is Your Role Model?

It could be anyone, a friend, a celebrity, a neighbor or a colleague, for as long as they can inspire you to never give up, provide you some ideas on improving your well-being and guide you through your development and in making important decisions. Having mentors or role models not only teaches you to achieve greatness but they also give you hope to change for the better, because if they were able to make things happen, it also means that you can too.

And in case you’re looking for an inspiration in your journey to getting fit and healthy, redditor Jillesme can show you how to transform from geek to Viking.

He was 137 lbs when he started lifting weights and doing interval training. He also chose to cut down his alcohol consumption to once a week and religiously focus on getting at least 8 hours of sleep. And in just one and a half years of continued dedication to his fitness, he was able to achieve astonishing results.

What Sacrifices Are You Willing to Take to Make Things Happen?

The next essential step to making an exceptional change in your life is to come up with new expectations for yourself and new rules to live by. Sacrificing your old, useless, and irrelevant ways will help you make better decisions, plan better actions, and develop better  habits to raise the quality of your life.

I have a friend who used to be a player, Marvin. He would jump from one relationship to another and would never really treat his women seriously. Until one day, he met his match, Abby. I didn’t know how it all happened, but he just fell in love with her so hard that he told all of our friends that he would do anything to make things work between them.

Unfortunately, Marvin didn’t seem to know how a genuine relationship worked. He kept on communicating with his exes and going clubbing almost every Friday night. When Abby found out about the exes, she got really angry with Marvin and decided to call it quits.

Guys, if you really want your life to change, you must be willing to make the necessary sacrifices and work on having a good relationship with yourself. In this way, you can build self-trust, create strong commitments and be confident that no matter what happens, you will never let yourself down.

How Can You Maintain Your Progress?

Creating positive change doesn’t end with just making sacrifices. Actually, it shouldn’t end at all because once you get comfortable with what you’re doing it means your growth stops there. To maintain your progress, you need to support your development, continually challenge yourself and raise the bar every day.

And to progressively raise your level of performance, check this out – “10 Strategies to make Yourself Mentally Stronger.”

Doing one tough thing at least once a week can help you face your fears, increase your stress tolerance, boost your confidence and chip away at your self-limiting beliefs.