Self-Improvement Math: Will + Work = Change

You’ve probably read a self-help or personal development book before.  Just a guess.  I’ll also go out on a limb and guess that some of them try to tell you something like this.  “If you believe it – it will be so!”

I agree – kind of.

What they don’t tell you is that thinking is the first step to growing yourself.  Making up your mind to change gets you in the right frame of mind to change.  It doesn’t actually change anything externally.  And until you figure out how to live in a completely internal world – that might not be useful.

Do you like cake?  Well, do you like sugar?  How about eggs?  Vanilla?  Flour?  Salt?  Milk?  Heat?  Time to cook?  Frosting?  Decorating?  Preparing?  Selling?  Or do you just like to eat cake?  You’d probably balk at the grocery store if their Bakery section just had boxes of ingredients, right?

You want a finished product.  You want something you can digest.  Something you can sink your teeth into and put to use right away.  You already made your mind up about getting the cake, getting the one you want, how you were going to get it, and what you were going to do with it when you get it.  But now you want to eat it!

Get your ingredient in order, but know that you have to actually do something before you can eat it.

Imaginary cake tastes like nothing.  Real cake tastes yummy.

Here’s a little graph that might help:

Think right, do the work, and be the change.

What Comes With Personal Change?

So here it comes.  The big “what’s in it for me?” part of the story.   The overall ‘why?’ when it comes to personal change.

Change, by definition, means something different.  Something is going to be something else, sometime soon.  A whole lot of something else and not what you are used to right now.  Small stuff and big stuff.

You can expect to see gradual, if not immediate, changes in a few things once you get started.  Like what motivates you, what kind of job you want, the friends you hang out with, how your family members interact with you, personal hobbies and interests, and your growth.

You will begin to think differently.  You will begin to act differently.  You will begin to see the world in a whole new light.  It’s like seeing the negative-space (white-space) arrow in the FedEx logo.  Once you’ve seen it, you’ll always see it.  But if you don’t know about it, you never will.

There will be some rough spots that you’ll need to be ready for.  Not everyone will be as accepting to change as you are now.  Some will push back.  This is understood for family folks and you’ll have to work with them.  They are there for life.  Friends, coworkers, neighbors, and acquaintances are a different story.  They might have to be dropped.

Your growth is in your own hands.  No other person out there can make you do anything.  It is a choice you come to grips with, make, and then bring to life.  Other people are just talking.  You’ll have to make it work, while you do the work.

Sorry – I’m making it sound worse than it is.  If you are genuinely interested in making your life better, then the environment around you will eventually support you.  It’ll take some time, but it’ll get there.

Work on patience.
Work on giving.
Work on being a better you, by working on being a better you.