Many years ago, when I first made the connection between the Cinderella Story and current life, I also started working with a bunch of different self-help, self-improvement type programs. The one thing that I noticed to be the same about every program no matter what they are trying to improve – Step 2 Sucks. OK, sometimes it’s step 3, or step 4, or step 100, but no matter what program you join, the vast majority of people participating in self-improvement, will quit rather than work to see improvement.
Whether you are working to improve your income, or change eating habits, or build a side hustle, and no matter how big the great promises the program makes – some people will see amazing results, but the vast majority won’t.
Is that because the programs are run by hucksters selling snake oil? Yes, some are, but that’s not why more people fail than succeed at just about every self-help program in the world.
I have found that no matter how much we say we want a better life, as humans, we are much more inclined to wish for a different life, but more comfortable with things the way they are.
Is it the fear of change? Is it the fear of the unknown? Is it simply more comfortable to wish for change, but happy to stay with the status quo?
I’m not a psychologist or professional behavior expert. All I can go by is my personal experience. I’ve been to hundreds of workshops and spent all kinds of money on programs and watched people get all excited about how THIS is going to be THE THING to make their dreams come true, only to watch them drop the program before they complete it, or slowly fade out as real life takes over and gets in the way of their dream.
So, what’s my amazing answer on how to make this not happen to you?
I have no single piece of advice. I haven’t found THE best solution. That’s mostly because we are all different. I have a real challenge when anyone says THE ONLY way to do something is this one way or that one way. There is no ONE way that works for everybody. There are some tools, skills, techniques that are helpful even if a particular guru’s way isn’t THE answer for you. I’ve failed at way more programs than I am willing to count. What I’m looking for here are your insights on what has worked for you in your self-improvement journey. Maybe together, we can figure out what works for each of us in the long run.
Here are some things that work for me.
Meditation and Hypnosis – I love quiet alone time, but that can be a real challenge for working moms. For years, I’ve always liked starting and ending my day with short meditations. For the night time, I make sure to cut out the part that brings you back to awake awareness. I also like to combine a meditation or hypnosis with continuing sleepy music or sleep sounds.
Since my kids were little I have had a morning routine that let me accomplish some health and wellness goals all by waking up a half hour earlier than I would without it. In the morning, I like to do a yoga or pilates video and for my cool down, play a short meditation or hypnosis recording that has the wake up portion. This way, I get in some exercise that I may find myself too busy to complete later, AND when my kids were young, I got some quiet time before my mom duties kicked in.
Steve G Jones has a huge inventory of self-hypnosis audio files for all kinds of help for personal growth.
Inspire3 has tons of audio files I love for self-hypnosis and manifesting.