Are you in the midst of leveling up? If you’re not sure, make sure you listen to last week’s episode. Today’s episode is the second of a three-part series on leveling-up. Once you know you’re ready to level up (last week’s episode), you’ll be ready for this week’s episode where we discuss what to do in the leveling-up process.

Change is part of life. We were meant for change. And sometimes we seek to create change, and other times change happens to us. For many, 2020 has been a year of forced change. 

Either way, you have a choice about how you respond. You can be an active or an inactive participant in the change. 

The inactive strategy carries attitudes and beliefs of…

• “I’ll just go with the flow.”
• “The universe will guide me.”
• “I’m going to trust that everything will work out.”
• “I’m just going to let things be.”

 

If you’re ready to have input in your life and drive change in the direction that you want to go, I have five tips for you.

 Make a plan. 

1. 1. Even if you don’t know what you want the end result of the change to look like, focus on how you want to feel on the other side of the change. 
   2. Then identify and commit to doing three things you can do to help you feel the way you want to feel and work towards those things.
   3. Identify things you should start doing and things you should stop doing to help you achieve your goal.
   1. This should be an intentional time of validating your emotions, working through the grieving process, and practicing forgiveness. (Remember, forgiveness is for you. The other person doesn’t even need to know that they have been forgiven.) 
   2. Be careful to not get sucked into negative states. Know when it’s time to move on.
2. Validate your journey. 
3. Practice self-care. This cannot be overstated. You can’t take care of anyone else well until you’ve tended to your own needs first. 
4. Be patient with yourself and with the people in your world. You’re going to be doing some reassessing and going through times of uncertainty, times when you’re not sure what to do next… Be patient and kind to yourself as you’re figuring things out. 
5. Expect good things and pay attention to your language. Drop the “I need to…” or “I should…” in favor of “I get to…” and “I will…” or “I can…” It seems like a little thing, but it will have a profound impact on your sense of self-control and empowerment. You have choices in what you do and in how you respond. 

In the end, to achieve the outcomes you want, you need to do two things: manage your state in the moment-to-moment experience and focus on what you want. And when it’s all said and done, it will be clear that the pot of gold isn’t found at the end of the rainbow but along the path of getting there. The golden nuggets will be found in the process, not the destination.