So, you want to change your life?  We all have things we would like to be different.   We want to feel differently.  We want to wake up excited everyday.  We want to have less anxiety, or depression.  We want to feel less stressed.  We want to feel fulfilled in our jobs.  There are so many things that I hear people talk about wanting change in there lives.  

Here are my tips, tried and true, to make some positive changes in your life.

 You really can create your life, in fact you are everyday in your thoughts and actions.  Our thoughts are so powerful.  Whether or not you believe in the Woo- woo behind attracting things from the universe, you can practice this.  Here is the thing, when we think positively about the things we want and the things we are doing, we interact differently with the world. That has nothing to do with your personal spirituality or higher power, and simply a matter of fact statement that a positive mindset changes how your treat others, tackle projects and interact with the world around you.  A negative person, say someone with a personality that resembles Eeyore, will never get very far because they are so sure they won't and that the world is not on their side, and they create it.  Not to mention, an Eeyore is not very fun for others to be around, which doesn't help with making friends.

This is a test of discipline for sure.  Getting up before my family allows me to get so much done without distraction.  I can blog, write for pleasure, get chores done, read or catch up on a show uninterrupted.  I choose to have this time be productive and do not allow myself to open Instagram or Facebook until I accomplish a couple things in my day.  This time has opened up so much freedom for me.  I don't feel like I owe anyone anything during this time. It is simply for me.  Additionally, I find I am so much more present for my family when they get up in the morning as my brain has had a bit of time to wake up.

  Learning to plan and manage my time is an odd phenom.  It takes a time each morning to sit down and plan your time, but you actually end up gaining so much more time in your day!  If I spend the time in the morning plotting out my must dos and other items I want to conquer then generally I find I have more time in my day at the end and it is guilt free time as I tackled my list!

What do you want?  There are so many different goals to create.  It could be to clean your kitchen every evening before bed.  Or something as grand as going back to school for that degree.  Whatever it is that your heart sings, set it.  Set small steps leading up to it.  Make sure it is your goal something you really want, not something you think you should want or someone else thinks you want. Some current goals I have are to write more, and to take some specialty Crossfit courses to help me improve my coaching.  I will use my time management skills to make these happen.

Our weeks are ever changing and it can have the tendency to create a bit of anxiety and miscommunication around our home.  Mapping out our week visually for all to see is extremely helpful. 

Something odd happens when you start thinking about intention it can start to change your life in some pretty significant ways.  An example of this can be seen in parenting decisions.  When a child asks if they can do something, say maybe spend some time playing Minecraft.  Often our knee jerk reaction to our children is to say no.  Often we don't stop to think about our intention.  What outcome are we looking for?  Do we want our kids to think of us as fun killers who say no to everything?  Probably not.  Maybe we do not feel super warm and fuzzy about video games (or Minecraft in general) and wish our kids would create for more interesting habits and hobbies.  In simply saying no, we are not honoring their personal desires at all which in time teaches them to not respect us because they see we do not care about their personal likes and dislikes.  Instead of saying no, try making an agreement with them.  "Tell you what if you sit down and read a couple chapters or your book (or go outside an jump on the trampoline, or whatever it is you want them to do) and then you can spend 30 minutes playing Minecraft.  Intention is set, you want them to spend some time doing something other than play video games, they see you are respecting their desires AND you are teaching them time management without them even knowing it.  In order to focus on intention simply ask yourself before any decision or action "What  am I wanting to get out of this?  Why do I want to do this?"  Ask that next time you want to post a photo on Instagram and see how that settles with ya.  It gets interesting.

Changing your life takes a little work, but with these tips you will be on your way in no time!