Everyone wants to change their lives for the better. Most people fail to do so because they don’t have a vision for what they actually want. If you don’t have a vision for where you want to be in life; then you won’t know what you need to do and how to act to achieve your goals. You fail in your metamorphosis; you fail the challenge of transformation and you remain stuck where you are.
The best time to start changing your life is now. Do the Metamorphosis Challenge to help you figure out what you want in life and what you can do to start your transformation.
The challenge consists of only 3 habits that you need to integrate into your daily routine for 30 days or even more. Each habit can be used independently but they are best used together. You can also choose the order in which you do each one. The important thing is to practice them consistently.
Visualize Your Dream
Take the time to visualize your dreams. Set aside time in the morning upon waking up and/or before going to bed to visualize. This is how you create a vision for your future. Developing a meditation practice helps with this. During your meditation, imagine what your dream life will be like.
“Nothing happens unless first a dream.”
— Carl Sandburg
Pretend that you have already succeeded in your goals. Now, close your eyes and visualize what it is to live the life of your successful self. To get started, you can visualize your ideal day.
Imagine your ideal day from waking up to going back to sleep. How do you feel upon waking up? What do you have for breakfast? What activities do you do throughout the day? Who are the people you are interacting with? What do you do before going to bed?
Remember to use all your senses in your visualization. How do your clothes feel when you go to work? What is the taste and smell of the food you’re eating? How does your office smell? What is the texture of the fabric of your laptop bag? How do your bedsheets feel as you settle yourself to sleep? You can be as detailed as possible. It’s your imagination, so you don’t have to scrimp on the details.
You’re trying to craft your dream life, your successful metamorphosis, so challenge your imagination. If you are finding it hard to concentrate on your visualization, then try to relax your mind and body by immersing yourself in a pleasant activity or indulging yourself in a hobby. You can do something fun for yourself or enjoy games with the family. Then, when you’re in a better mood, sit down in a quiet place and visualize.
Put Your Dreams on Paper
Each one of us has an idea of what we want our life to be. However, we don’t take the time to document it so we end up forgetting them. Some of us want to wait for a sign from the Universe before making plans. Others want to make the perfect plan in their minds first, before writing it down on paper. Don’t wait! Arm yourself with a notebook and a pen and use them.
The Universe is always whispering to you but unless you learn how to recognize it, thru meditation for example, then you won’t recognize the signs. Sometimes, the sign is an inspiring thought or idea that just comes into your head without you consciously thinking about it. This is called “inspiration”.
You won’t see an actual “muse” and hear it speaking to you, but an idea just pops into your head and it may feel weird or you may feel good about it. It may also come from your dreams and you vaguely remember it when you wake up. Write that idea down. Don’t think too much about it. Just document it on paper. Make a list, write a paragraph, a phrase; just write it down. You will realize where it fits into your plans later on.
Don’t wait to come up with a perfect plan in your head – it will never come. The human brain is only capable of processing the facts and experiences that you have personally accumulated. One person’s brain can never account for all possibilities because no one has a monopoly on knowledge and experiences.
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Work on what you can control. Write down your plan, no matter how rough, of what you want and how to go about doing it, with what you have at the present moment. Your plan might not be perfect but it is a good starting point. As a human being, you are capable of adjusting to the situation if your plan encounters some road blocks or needs to be changed.
From a rough plan, you can also plan your daily activities. Then you can make a weekly, monthly, and even yearly plan of the milestones you need to accomplish so you can reach your goals. Working on your metamorphosis is a challenge that requires a lot of effort but it will be worth it.
Change One Thing at A Time
There are many factors that need to be in place in order for us to succeed in transforming our lives. We won’t be able to put everything in place at the same time but we can start changing one thing at a time.
For this challenge, there are already 2 habits that you need to make room for in your daily schedule. Instead of doing something unproductive, swap your unproductive habits and replace them with visualization and planning. Then do one more thing – make one other change to your personal habits and/ or your environment.
“Dreams don’t work unless you do.”
— John C. Maxwell
A major factor that you can immediately do something about is your environment. If you’re working in the office, declutter and clean your desk so you can be in a calm state of mind when you work. You can even try dressing differently so you can look and feel as professional as you can as you go about your job.
If you work from home, then setup your work space to optimize your productivity. You may want to clean and re-arrange your room so you wake up to an uncluttered, and organized room. Decide on what you can do to change your environment to put you in the right mindset for a productive day. Your metamorphosis starts from within but you need to transform your environment, your own cocoon, and make it conducive to your growth as well.
Another change that you can start adapting immediately is to organize your finances by creating a budget. You can also start eating healthier by planning your meals, getting more exercise, drinking more water, switching to natural ingredients in your personal hygiene products, keeping a gratitude journal, taking a sun bath in the morning, and many more.
You know your own habits so you know what’s good for you and what’s not. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what you need to change. The most important part of this challenge is how determined you are to change.
“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”
— Colin Powell
There are so many things big and small, that you can do right now to start transforming yourself and your surroundings for the better. Your metamorphosis needs you to challenge your imagination, put in consistent effort and maintain your determination to succeed.
Focus on changing one thing, take things a step at a time, and you will find yourself transforming your life little by little. This is your metamorphosis. Take responsibility for your dreams today.
Updated: First published on 2020.08.01.
Featured Image: Original Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels.