Want to Change Your Life? You’ll Need One of These

Life change is easy to wish, dream or talk about, but harder to actually make happen.

Like wanting to lose weight, create more work-life balance, find the work you were meant to do, start a business, quit a bad habit, start a good habit, etc.

Why is it so hard, at times, to change your life?  Because there is often a disconnect between desiring the change and actually doing what it takes to make it happen. That disconnect is called motivation.

So what is it that really motivates you to change your life?

Three Key Motivators to Change Your Life

Leadership expert and best-selling author John Maxwell says there are three key motivators that lead people to successfully change an aspect of their life:

“People will change either when they hurt enough they have to, or they have learned enough that they want to, and received enough they are able to.”

Here’s my take on it:

1. People will change when they hurt enough they have to – In this case, people change when the pain becomes so great that they have to make the change in order to eliminate, or decrease the pain.  I think this is the worse kind of motivation because it means that the person is suffering and is “forced” to make the change or face even more suffering.  But sometimes I think this is the most effective kind of motivation. Like when a heart attack forces someone to lose weight, or a threat of divorce finally brings a spouse to admit they need help, or when a foreclosure leads someone to get out of debt.

2.  People will change when they have learned enough that they want to – For some, just reading an article or hearing someone else’s story is enough motivation for them to change.  Like when someone gets motivated to lose weight by watching The Biggest Loser on TV, or a person who decides to quit smoking because they’ve heard about the risks or know of a smoker who has lung cancer.

3.  People will change when they have received enough they are able to – I think this speaks of a few things:  First, having an inner drive or passion from within that compels you to make the desired change.  Second, I think it refers to being emotionally healthy and able to handle the change – not being emotionally drained and “running on empty.”

So if you’re not making the change you’ve hoped for in your life, ask yourself if one of these three key life change motivation factors is present in your life.  If not, what can you do tap into their power of one of these motivators to create and sustain lasting change in your life.

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