Personal development doesn’t have to be hard
What if rather than trying to change your whole life, you just committed to changing one little thing?
As a Life Coach, I live in the personal development space. I consistently digest material that speaks to how we can live up to our potential, create the life of our dreams, or transform in some miraculous fashion into the human we aspire to be.
Many of my clients come to me wanting to improve how they feel about themselves and their lives. Yet while personal development is a wonderful thing, it can also just make us feel like we’re failing in too many ways to count.
When a client comes to me with an ominous list of, things they know they should do, my advice is always the same. Rather than add more tasks to the already full “to-do” lists and burden themselves with more obligations, I ask this one question:
What is one simple change we can focus your efforts on, that you already know will make a big difference in your life?
That’s it — one little thing. The rest can move to the side for the time being.
The reason this works so well is all to do with momentum — or the Positive Snowball Effect. Once we get moving in the right direction we:
- Move into a space of flow & ease
- Start feeling positive emotions again
- Begin to feel like additional positive habits are less burdensome to integrate
Rather than forcing ourselves into the Person we aspire to be, we rather find ourselves traveling with a relative ease in that direction all by taking a simple small action.
We are no longer in a battle against ourselves to get going. The feeling of achievement that comes from this forward momentum is an essential precursor to sustained personal growth. Baby steps really do lead to big gains.
So rather than being overwhelmed by all the things you feel you should do, I encourage you to ask this simple question of yourself — What is the one seemingly small thing that you know deep down will help you start moving forward again?
Start there, and don’t expect anything more of yourself. Simply sit back and enjoy the ride while you let the Snowball Effect take hold.
Originally published on Thrive Global: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/one-question-to-ask-yourself-to-greatly-improve-your-life/
