Last week I introduced The Baby Step Method to Changing Your Habits, and today I want to continue that conversation. As I discussed the best way to making changes in your life that will last is to do so slowly and consistently. Day by day these changes become a little easier and eventually they become a normal part of your lifestyle. But there is another huge component to making changes that last that I am going to introduce in this blog.

When it comes to making any type of change in your life you’ve got to want it, and you need to know why you want it. 

It doesn’t matter how many people in your life want you to change, if you don’t want to change you never will. And if you are attempting to make changes based on what other people in your life want, you’ll most likely fail. The truth of the matter is, most people don’t actually want to change until they are forced to. Whether that means hitting rock bottom with an addiction, having a health scare, being dumped, etc.. When things get real bad you are forced to see your own self destructive behavior, and you know that if you want things to get better you are going to have to make some changes.

Now do you have to wait till things hit rock bottom and you are miserable to make changes? No absolutely not, there is another way. It’s called using your imagination. Say you are a soda drinker, and you know its not good for you, but you are only 35 and your health hasn’t suffered very much yet. Right now there is not enough pain in your life to make you want to quit that habit. And this is where you need to play a little game with yourself and imagine how bad will it be? How bad will things get if I don’t change?

For the soda drinker let’s fast forward thirty years and see yourself as overweight and diabetic. You are forced to drastically change your diet and spend tons of money on medication and doctor appointments. The neuropathy in your foot is getting worse, you are starting to go numb, and doctors are afraid that you might lose your big toe. Your heart and kidneys are being regularly checked to make sure they don’t shut down. You notice that your vision is getting blurry and you are worried that you could go blind, a common side effect of diabetes. You are just hoping that you can make it to your grandchild’s first birthday.

Not a pretty picture is it? Still feel like drinking a can of coke now? That little projection into the future was probably pretty depressing and disturbing to some people reading this, and I’m glad, that’s the point. When you get upset and disturbed enough you are more likely to make a commitment to change.

From this place you can figure out your wants and whys. Now do the opposite exercise and spend some time imagining yourself making this change today and then fast forward another thirty years and see how good things are. Instead of being sick and debilitated in your 60’s you are thriving and enjoying your retirement. You’re in great shape and your doctor tells you that you probably have another 30 years on you. You have no doubt that you will be at your great-grandchild’s first birthday. Quite a different picture right? One worth changing for I imagine.

So why do you want to change? Take your visualization of how bad things could get and make that your “why.” And what is it that you want? Think about that positive vision into the future. The one where you made healthy changes and are now reaping the rewards. That vision represents your “want.”

From this place initiating change becomes a lot easier, and your commitment to that change becomes stronger. You can do this exercise with any type of change you want to make. So here is your challenge for the week. Think of a habit that you know you should change. First one that comes to mind is usually what you focus on. Next get disturbed! Visualize what your future would be like if you don’t change this habit. How bad will it get? Then imagine how good it could be if you stopped this habit. How much better would your life be in the future? Now take those two contrasting images and use them as motivation to make some changes!