Creating Lasting Change in the New Year: 10 Research-Backed Steps
As the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, many of us make resolutions to break old patterns and create lasting change. However, research suggests that the biggest challenge lies not in motivation or discipline, but in bridging the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it. To overcome this hurdle, Dr. Mary Mkandawire, a leadership strategist and author, shares 10 research-backed steps to create real, lasting change.
Step 1: Reprogram Your Subconscious, Not Just Your Willpower
Most of our daily thoughts are unconscious, driven by our subconscious mind. To create lasting change, we must reprogram our subconscious with new patterns and beliefs. This involves updating our identity, not just our goals, to set a new upper limit for what we can achieve.
Step 2: Update Your Identity, Not Just Your Goals
Our identity sets the upper limit for what we can achieve. To achieve new results, we must first make a decision about who we want to become. This involves developing a new sense of self and aligning our actions with our values.
Step 3: Regulate Your Nervous System Before Trying to Change Your Life
Before attempting to change our lives, we must regulate our nervous system to feel safe. This involves managing stress and anxiety to avoid protection responses such as procrastination and overthinking.
Step 4: Stop Confusing Talking About Change With Actual Change
Many of us mistake talk for progress, attending workshops and reading books without taking consistent action. To create lasting change, we must translate our intentions into action.
Step 5: Write Your Goals Down (It Increases Success by 33 Percent)
Writing down our goals increases success by 33 percent. This involves clarifying our vision, setting specific goals, and tracking our progress to build momentum.
Step 6: Build a Vision That Pulls You Forward
We think in pictures, and our brain moves towards the direction of our repeated images. To create lasting change, we must build a compelling vision that inspires us to take action.
Step 7: Replace Old Mental Programming Through Repetition
Our subconscious believes whatever it hears repeatedly. To change our inner script, we must feed it new inputs through affirmations and declarations of truth.
Step 8: Surround Yourself With Expanders, Not Limiters
We are shaped by the people we surround ourselves with. To create lasting change, we must surround ourselves with people who challenge and support us.
Step 9: Take Action Immediately (The Brain Forgets 80 Percent Within a Day)
Research shows that if we don’t apply new knowledge immediately, we lose most of it within 24 hours. To create lasting change, we must take action immediately and make adjustments as we proceed.
Step 10: Align Your Spirit Before You Align Your Strategy
Meaningful change requires inner alignment. To create lasting change, we must develop spiritual disciplines such as meditation, prayer, and gratitude to quiet our minds and hear the guidance of our spirit.
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