THE LIFE HACK! 5 small steps to changing your life! Blog by Tiffany Barnard

It is often in our nature to look for the easy way out; the shortcut; the life hack. We are always looking to make the quick buck, win the lottery without buying a ticket, binge our way to losing 5kgs, or the secret to happiness. 

There are hundreds of websites that claim to have cracked the meaning of life and all its mysteries and maybe some of them have! 

Who am I to question their authenticity...? Of course if you want to discover their secret you have to sign up or subscribe or buy something.

That said, and for those of you who have tried to discover these secrets and have all but lost the will to live while watching endless videos that hint at, but ultimately give you no answers, I can show you now, in 5 very simple steps, how you can make your life happier - TODAY.

1.Stop being a people pleaser and learn how to say NO. 

We are often inclined to say yes to doing all manner of things because we are embarrassed to say no, or just don’t know how, to say NO. When this happens, we end up feeling bitter, resentful, stressed, and frustrated and often, all these unhealthy and highly negative emotions are directed at the person who asked for our help in the first place. Needless to say, it is totally irrational to blame someone else for our negative emotional reaction, when all we had to do was say NO to their request in the first place.

2. Embrace change because it will bring amazing things into your life. 

As strange as it sounds, we are generally afraid of change. We don’t like it because we feel as if we have lost control of our world. It makes us feel edgy and uncomfortable. We make a gazillion excuses to avoid change but at the same time we complain about our status quo! We are nothing if not a complicated species! But as Jim Rohn said so simply “If you’re not happy keep moving forward. If you don’t like where you are, move! You are not a tree”. You are the only person who is responsible for your happiness. No one else. So if you don’t make the change, everything will stay as it is. Only by changing what we are unhappy with in our lives can we ever expect to be happy!

3. Embrace the fact that the only time that exists is today. 

Yes! Grandma was right! Again! The past has gone and only has the power to influence our lives (for better or worse) if we let it. The future is totally unknown. It hasn’t happened yet. Now is all we have. This moment where you are reading what I have written...and I hope you think it’s worth your time…is the only moment that truly exists. We need to give our ‘now’ our full, complete and absolute attention! If we spend our time worrying about tomorrow, the only thing that we achieve is to rob our today of its peace. So, be sure not to miss a thing because by tomorrow, it will be too late.

4. Be your own biggest supporter. 

I really can’t tell you often enough just how important this point is in relation to your happiness! Quite simply if you don’t like yourself...why the hell is anyone else going to? You can see the sense in that, right? If you cannot be your own best cheerleader, I can all but promise you that no one else will do it for you. So, EMBRACE your strengths, ADMIT your weaknesses and (this bit is really important) OWN your mistakes by taking responsibility for them! The freedom that you will feel once you have taken this huge step, is amazing!

5. Don't overthink things! Just do it! 

Yes! Just like NIKE told us for the first time in 1988. The fact is we can talk ourselves out of just about everything if we are given enough time! Our brains default programme is set to “be careful”. Whenever we make a decision, our brain will zip through the filing cabinet of our life experiences to, in a split second, decide whether we are at risk or not. Even if the idea gets the thumbs up initially, when we delay taking action our brain will come up with ten thousand reasons why going forward, with whatever it is, is a bad idea. We will come up with excuses, start procrastinating and eventually just give up on the whole thing. So next time you have an idea remember, just NIKE!

As soon as you start to implement these changes in your life, you will find that you are more motivated, more energised, more productive and, most importantly you will be happier! 

And let’s be honest, that’s really our ultimate goal in life, isn’t it? To be happy! 

So, have a go and try to make these small changes. I would love to hear your success stories!!

P.S. If you feel that this is all a bit too much for you then I can help. Reach out and book a discovery call. We can do this together!