You Can Just Decide to Change Your Life

Did you know you can just decide that you're going to change your life? Like right now? You don't need anyone's permission, you don't need an elaborate plan or fancy program, you don't need the perfect time. If there's something in your life that you want to be different, you can just decide right now that you want to do something about it.

The key is to make the change tiny and achievable. Pick something, anything that takes you in the direction you want to go. Ideally pick something you can try out right away and get a quick win from. And because it's something different and out of routine for you, your brain will take notice. Small changes add up to a big impact. 

And why does this work? 

• The Power of Small Wins: Small successes can build momentum. Celebrating minor achievements can boost motivation and confidence, making it easier to tackle larger goals.
  
  
• Reduced Resistance: Smaller changes are less intimidating and can reduce resistance to change. This makes it easier to start and maintain new behaviors.
  
  
• Sustainability: Tiny interventions are more sustainable because they are less likely to cause burnout or overwhelm. This increases the likelihood of long-term adherence to new habits.
  
  

Mentioned in the Episode:
Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything by BJ Fogg 

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If you’re considering a major career or lifestyle change and want to talk to someone, I’m here for you! See if we're a good fit for 1:1 life coaching by scheduling a free consultation here: https://lynngrogan.com/work-with-me/

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Transcript

Lynn Grogan [00:00:00]:

Alright. Welcome back to the Courageously Unconventional podcast. I'm your host, Lynn Grogan, and I have to tell you, I am so happy to be back in the land of the living. If you tuned in last week, I talked about getting sick while we're supposed to be on vacation, and all 3 of us got sick. My husband got really sick. I got kinda sick, and even the dog pitched in by getting a little bit sick. So, you know, I had all of these elaborate plans last week. It was probably one of the first times, actually, where I had planned out a vacation.

Lynn Grogan [00:00:30]:

I was like, alright. We're gonna go up to Telluride, Colorado. We're gonna ride the gondola. They have this free, like, gondola that takes you around the town. There were 4th July celebrations going on. I think there was even a parade. I'm like, we're really gonna do it this time. We're gonna have vacation.

Lynn Grogan [00:00:48]:

And then, of course, you know, plot twist, we get sick. And it was kind of funny because when I was trying to figure out what to do, my husband was in no position to make a decision. He was so sick. My mind went back to, the Oregon Trail game. I don't know if you played this when you were a kid. Maybe this is aging me quite a bit, but it's this like computer game that we got to play in school where you're on the Oregon Trail and you're headed out west And along the way your people, they get sick. They get dysentery. They get a snake bite, And you have to decide, how long are you gonna rest, if at all, to, you know, get your people healthy lest they die? And then you always have to measure it out.

Lynn Grogan [00:01:35]:

Like, okay. But if we rest, do we make it on time, etcetera? So as I was trying to figure out what to do, my brain went back to Oregon Trail, and it's funny that, like, my reference for resting and recovering always goes back to that. I'm guessing I'm not alone in this, but but it was one of those where it's just like, yeah. You can just you have to decide. You have to decide if you're gonna rest or not. And so, of course, ultimately, we decided to just stay put where we were and take the recovery time that we need. And I promise you this little story is going someplace. But, you know, so, of course, we are stationary where we had been for a little while.

Lynn Grogan [00:02:12]:

And I'll be honest. I was a little bit disappointed. I, like I said, I had planned out this vacation, and I was really excited about it. And, obviously, none of that happened. None of that happened that week. And so, I mean, I'm a big fan of when you're disappointed just letting yourself be bummed, so there was a day or two where I was kinda bummed. But then, you know, at some point and here's the point. This is what I'm getting to.

Lynn Grogan [00:02:38]:

There was, like, this little voice in my head that said, well, you know, you can just decide to change your mind about this. Like, you can just decide to change how you think about this. And it wasn't in, like, a you should change how you think about this so you feel better. It wasn't in a demanding way. It was just, like, a kinda like this little kind voice that was like, you know, you could just change your point of view about this. And I paid attention to that. I was just like, okay. Well, this is what we've got.

Lynn Grogan [00:03:10]:

We're not on the elaborate vacation I thought we were going to be. We're stationary here. How do I wanna think about this? How do I want to think about what we're doing here this week, what we can do, what we can't do? How can we make the most of this time, or how could I make the most of this time? Because my husband's job was to rest. You know? I was feeling better after a couple days. And I just really was like, okay, well, obviously, this is just a time to slow down. This is the time to be quiet, and, you know, what perfect timing, midpoint of the year you know, last week was almost this perfect timing, July 1st, halfway through the year, landed on a Monday. And I was like, well, maybe this is a time for me to take a minute to just think about what I want for myself for the rest of the year, what I wanna do with my time, that kind of thing. So as I was thinking about all of that, the little voice came back again.

Lynn Grogan [00:04:04]:

That little voice in your head that comes back, and it had a new message for me. It was like, hey, Lynn, you know, you can just decide to change your life too, which I thought was super interesting. You know, I am in the business of, you know, life changes. Right? People come to me because they wanna change their life, but it was kinda interesting to get that little voice. Like, you can just decide to change your life, which was kind of like a boring thought, but also kind of an interesting thought. And, again, I was like, well, let's pay attention to this. So sometimes when I think about changing my life, and I don't know about you, but when I wanna make a change, then I'm like, this has gotta be a really, really big change. Right? Is that I've gotta do something monumental.

Lynn Grogan [00:04:50]:

I gotta find something out there. And, back in the day before I started coaching, you know, I would do things like the Whole 30. I don't know if you're familiar with that or not, but, basically, it's like this whole, like, rule based thing that you do for 30 days with the intention of, like, changing the way that you eat. There's a lot of these different things out there, and so I was like, well, maybe it's time for another big old reset, and, you know, over the years, I had been hearing about this program. It's called, like, 75Hard, And I was like, alright. I'm gonna look up and see what this is and just see if it's for me because I knew it was a combination of exercise, eating, some mindset stuff, and really just being committed to something. I'm like, maybe I need this massive reset. So I look into it, and I listen to a podcast with the guy who created it.

Lynn Grogan [00:05:41]:

His name is Andy Frisella. I have to tell you, this guy is such a bro. And, I mean, I think he's for some people. He's not for me. But it was like, you can do this. You could do anything for 75 days. Most people won't do this. But, you know, if you really do this, this is how you change your life.

Lynn Grogan [00:05:57]:

And I was kind of amused, but also really turned off, by it. I like I said, I do think these type of programs are for some people. Some people really love the, like, kinda hard reset, and they love the rule based things, and they love going for it. But for me, all I could hear about when I listened to this plan was, okay. Well, you're doing these things, like, very rule based. It's like you work out 2 times a day for 45 minutes. 1 needs to be outside. You're reading 10 pages of a nonfiction book per day.

Lynn Grogan [00:06:29]:

You're drinking a gallon of water, and you're taking, like, progress pics every single day, progress pictures. And I was like, okay. That's okay. But I'm also a really big fan of just listening to your body and any changes that you make, like thinking about them long term at this point less than, you know, and not these short term things that end after 30 days, 75 days because then what? Right? We can most of us can do anything super hard for a short period of time, but what I have noticed over the years of coaching is that, like, yeah, you do something really hard for, like, 30 plus days. Maybe there's a longer span of time, and it's new and it's sexy and there's rules you can follow. And then at the end of it, like, yeah, you've made some changes and maybe you've lost a lot of weight or you're moving more, but it doesn't really give you anywhere to go from there. Because most of us are like, well, we can do the hard thing for a short period of time. The longer period of time, like, our actual lives, like, it's hard to fit these things into it.

Lynn Grogan [00:07:37]:

Some people do do it for a long time, but I know I'm not one of those people. So I was just like, okay. Well, with this thought, you can just decide to change your life. If it's not a hard reset, what does it look like? And what I am a fan of is small interventions or tiny actions. So if you take a step back and you think about it, if you do everything the way that you've always done them, you think the same same thoughts, You take the same actions. You get the same results. If you like what you're doing, if you like the results you're getting, obviously, keep doing that. There's so many things in our lives where it's just, like, yeah, keep doing that.

Lynn Grogan [00:08:17]:

That's amazing. But if you want things to be different then the thing that needs to change is you but it doesn't have to be this big flashy you know, thing that you're doing that takes up all of your time and energy. Even the tiniest of interventions gets the ball rolling and offers you a new perspective. It catches your brain's attention. Right? We are designed to be efficient. We are designed to wash, rinse, repeat. So anything, even the smallest change in your day catches your brain attention because it's like, hey. What is that? We weren't doing that before.

Lynn Grogan [00:08:54]:

The smallest, tiniest of interventions. Like, it also eliminates, like, the blank page of change. I don't know about you, but, like, sometimes when I'm at the precipice of wanting to change something, I'm like, oh god. Like, oh, like, how do we approach this? It feels like that blank white page, like, if you were writing a story, you're just like, okay. What's the first word? Like, something tiny, like, eliminates that. There's also just been a lot of research over the last several years, in the worlds of, like, psychology and behavioral change that suggests that, like, effect the effectiveness of small interventions. Right? Studies have been shown that tiny habits can lead to improved health, increased productivity, and, like, enhanced well-being. There is I think he's a behavioral scientist.

Lynn Grogan [00:09:40]:

BJ Fogg has a book, Tiny Habits, where he talks all about this. He talks about how tiny habits are easier to form and sustain, when it's like, something is small. Like, it requires less of you. It requires less motivation, effort, which then increases the likelihood of consistency. Right? Because it's like when you think about doing the thing, you're not like, oh god. Here's the rest of my day. It's like, yeah. I got 5 minutes.

Lynn Grogan [00:10:02]:

I can do that. Right? So, you know, compared to something like, say, what I was talking about before with the 75Hard, like, this is a tiny thing that you can do. Tiny things are also, like, positive. It's something that you can do that gets you going in the direction you want to go. Like so it starts building up your resilience and a growth mindset. I think the other thing is is that something tiny isn't hard. It's usually just 1% different, which makes it hard to fail at, and it also makes it easy to succeed at. So, you know, you might just ask yourself, like, okay.

Lynn Grogan [00:10:36]:

What could I do that would be 1% better? Not like a 100% better, but, like, 1% better. Right? Because it's still getting you in the direction that you wanna go. So for a lot of people, like, getting started is the hardest part. So that's why something tiny, something that you can do today, gets you going in the direction you wanna go. It helps you change your life. Right? You can just decide to change your life. You can just decide to do something tiny today and do it. So it doesn't have to be elaborate.

Lynn Grogan [00:11:02]:

It doesn't have to be something major. It just I would say just be something in the direction that you want to go in an area of life that you want to change. So if you wanna change something about your eating, maybe instead of just having that slice of pizza tonight, you have, like, something veggie related. Right? Maybe it's like baby carrots with ranch. Maybe it is a solid side salad, or maybe you're just drinking a glass of water before your next meal. If you wanna move more, maybe it's doing 300 extra steps. Most phones have a pedometer these days, so you can easily see this. If you find that you have a problem focusing, because you're scrolling on your phone, this is something I definitely have been working on, you can delete social media from your phone so it's not there in the first place.

Lynn Grogan [00:11:52]:

I know for a lot of people that's a little bit of a hard sell, so there is actually this trick with an iPhone where you can delete an app from your home screen but not your phone. You can look this up. It just makes it harder to find. Right? If you don't see it right there on your on your screen but you actually had to go search for it and you had to find it, it kind of inserts a little bit of a pause there so you can decide whether or not that's the right move for you. If you wanna be more social, you could just text a friend right now to go meet up. If you're interested in meeting new friends, you could see if there's a local meetup group, something around your area that interests you. Like, it doesn't have to be something elaborate. It's just something small that you could pick up today and you could try.

Lynn Grogan [00:12:34]:

I am a big fan of tracking progress with these things. I think you get, like, a little bit of a dopamine when you check the box. You can also see progress during time. So it could be that you pick something tiny, and then you start tracking it. You start tracking it in the notes app on your phone. Maybe you have, like, a day planner or a calendar where you just mark that box. The thing with something tiny is that you can do something today. Right? You don't have to wait till the perfect time.

Lynn Grogan [00:13:01]:

I know a lot of us you know, 1 of the things that gets really challenging is just like, okay. Well, I need the perfect day of the week. I need the perfect time of year. I need to wait until all the conditions are right, but you really don't. With something tiny, you don't even have to know the outcome of it. Right? You can just start it today and just see what happens, like, explore your brain being willing to try and willing to be curious about the impact on your life. You don't need to overthink it. Right? If it's just something like drinking a glass of water before your next meal, you can just drink a glass of water before the next meal and just be like, did that help me get more full? Yes or no? Do I wanna try that again? Yes or no? And keep going from there.

Lynn Grogan [00:13:43]:

So pick something today. Pick something, like, in the next 3 hours just to try. Like I said, you can pick something in the direction of maybe some big change that you wanna go in your life, or it could be, you know, just something random from the list I just gave you. If you give this a shot, let me know how it goes. You can find me on Instagram at lynn grogan. You can email me lynn@linngrogan.com. I love to connect in these ways. I love to hear from you, especially if you try something like this.

Lynn Grogan [00:14:13]:

I think it's just, like, little, impactful. And like I said, you can just decide to change your life, and it can start with this 1 small tiny thing. So if you want some additional support with this, I am a life coach. I do offer 1 on 1 coaching packages. You can find me on my website lynn grogan.com or in the show notes, and as always, if you enjoyed listening to this episode of the Courageously Unconventional podcast, Please subscribe, leave a review, or share it with a friend. So this has been the Courageously Unconventional podcast. I'm Lynn Grogan, and I'll see you next time.