To begin every journey, there can be a sense of anxiety. When there’s uncertainty, it can be hard to feel you’re in control of your life. Fortunately, there are a few ways to instill a sense of control and begin your path to success.
Here, I want to look at things you can do today. They don’t require a lot of effort, though they won’t give you immediate results. Rather, these are tasks where you will feel accomplished with consistency. You can take you first steps today and continue in the future.
Usually, these tasks are physically easy. Mentally there’s a challenge associated, but a reward for those who remain committed. Control comes when you break the mental stigma and know you have the power to improve.
Track Your Spending
When you go on a diet, the scariest part can be weighing yourself for the first time. Similarly, when you want to control your money the scariest thing can be logging into your bank account and looking at your monthly summaries. You might be spending more than you want; perhaps you spend more than you make. You won’t change your habits if you don’t know what you’re working with, so take a look at the numbers. Even if you don’t like the number you see you might know where you can make some changes.
Drink More Water
It seems like everyone is telling you to drink more water, but there’s good reason. Hydration is important and will help you feel better. Eight 8 oz. glasses of water seem to be a good rule of thumb, but there are better ways to assess your individual needs. Find containers in your house that can be used to measure your intake and learn how you can adequately hydrate moving forward. It will make a difference, though expect to take more trips to the bathroom.
Get Organized
When I’m frustrated, I find it very helpful to have an organized environment. Organizing your desk and office space will allow you to be productive and focus on accomplishing tasks. Not only will this environment put you in the right frame of mind, the very act of cleaning can have positive impacts on you. You can accomplish organizational tasks in under an hour. This will instill a sense of control in you, allowing you to feel you’re capable of making changes.
Do Something Different
If you feel you don’t have full control over your life, you obviously know you need to make changes. Sometimes you don’t have control over those changes, but there are many things in life where you do have control. Look a typical day and try to identify routines you’ve fallen into. Then, break those routines. If you watch TV for an hour every night, try reading. If you have lunch at noon every day, move lunch to 1PM. The intent is to feel a little uncomfortable, even though you know these changes are harmless.
Reintroduce Yourself
Think of the ways you would introduce yourself to a stranger. Aside from your name, what is the first think you reveal? Is it your job? The place you grew up? Your age? This can reveal a lot about the way you perceive yourself. If you want to see a change, start to change the way you talk about yourself to others. Incorporate your future goals into that statement so other people will get a better understanding of the things that truly interest you. It may lead to future connections, but it will certainly dictate the conversations you have with others.