Starting New

Spring is a great time to start something new.  When you’ve completed your Spring cleaning, de-cluttering your life of stuff and of those projects/tasks that you don’t want to do any more, you’ll have the time to start something new.  New habits, projects, or learning something new can be invigorating and motivating.  Many times it sparks an energy and passion to spice up your life.  Here are some ideas about bringing something new into your life.

Idea 1:  Start small.  Whatever you’re incorporating into your life, start small.  If you’d like to learn something new – start with reading an article as opposed to signing up for a ten week program.  Starting a new project, work on it for a short amount of time per day.  Starting an exercise program, start with three push-ups per day.  Starting small makes it doable and leaves you with a better chance of incorporating the new into your life.

Idea 2:  Negative thoughts.  Anytime you’re incorporating something new, your mind pulls you back to the familiar and to your comfort level.  Even when the “new” is something you want to do, are interested in doing and you’re excited about doing.  Your mind may come up with excuses, rationalizations, doomsday talk and other messages.  You can’t stop the negative thoughts, you can examine them, understand them and disregard them by putting them aside.

Idea 3:  Savor.  When you’re adding new things to your life they should be things you really want to do, otherwise don’t add them – they won’t last anyway.  If you’ve decided to eat healthy, enjoy the taste of a crisp apple.  When you’re learning something new, find the wonder and awe of new information.  Embrace the process of creating and completing the steps of a new project.  I know someone who uses the phrase “delicious” to describe her new experiences.  Find your word that describes the new in savory terms.

Idea 4:  Have a recovery plan.  This is really key – many people have started something new and then when some disruption happened (it’s incredibly common), they never re-started.  Get in the habit of re-starting when you falter.

Some ways to re-start:  1)  Have an accountability partner – someone you will check in with and report on what you are adding new to your life.  2)  Start at the beginning and add the “new” back as if you never started in the first place.  3)  Schedule time for the “new” on your calendar.  4)  Create visual reminders of your “new”.

What are you doing to add new things in your life?  How do you choose what to add?  How do you stay on track?  Leave your comments below.

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