How to Change your Life (in 5 Steps)

WRITTEN BY KRISTA BEAUVAIS

You don’t need to be rich, lucky, or even privileged to live the life you actually WANT. This is extremely important to understand. But you do need the desire and ability to take five very important steps, no matter how long it may take you to accomplish each of them…

Humble beginnings don't mean humble futures...

Jimmy Choo was once a little boy with humble beginnings in Penang, Malaysia…

Just like there are many recipes for baking a delicious chocolate cake, there are also many recipes for changing your life. This is my recipe, the one I have used for the past 13 years. I love swapping recipes, so if you have another one that also works well, please add it to the comments at the end for all of us to try.

What are the Steps in this Recipe?

Whether you want to make a tiny or enormous change, it doesn’t matter. The steps are the same regardless:

STEP 1 – DREAM
STEP 2 – DECIDE
STEP 3 – SAVE
STEP 4 – PLAN
STEP 5 – DO

Is That It?

Pretty much. Changing your life is a pretty straight forward business. It’s a simple 5-step recipe. But…

Inside each of these steps, you’ll have to take a bunch of smaller ones. They will be different for each person (and each goal) so they can’t be isolated or articulated. But walking through these five steps will guide you to the other actions you’ll need to take. Your path will become clear as you proceed.

To demonstrate this concept on a practical level, Kim Dinan has shared how she’s used these same steps to transform her life entirely: How to Cross Paths with Opportunity.

From a grotty street corner in Penang to the bespoke shoe maker for royalty and celebrities

…and now he’s THE bespoke shoe designer for royalty and celebs.

Is it as Easy as it Seems?

OK, so, it seems simple, right? Immediately, you’re ready to think:

‘Dream, decide, save, plan, do? Yeah, sure, that’s easy. I can do all of that. In fact, I’ve tried some of that! So why is nothing changing in my life?’

Well, that’s probably because it’s not as simple as it first appears. When we get the feeling that something in our life needs to change, many of us start doing some of these things instinctively. Sometimes we strike it lucky and things work out.

But most of the time, because we don’t know that what we’re doing is just one or two steps in a series, we never do all of them. Or we do them in the wrong order.

The result is that we don’t achieve success. Instead, we lose confidence, success seems impossible, and we put it off for another day.

In the end, we fall away from our course of necessary action, life takes over, dramas and tragedies happen that need our attention, and we get sidetracked. And nothing ever changes. Or everything just gets worse!

Do These Steps Really Work?

Yes, these steps really work!

I’ve been a teacher for over a dozen years and it’s contrary to my ethical code of conduct to share information that is false, misleading or destructive. What would I gain by doing that?

But, please, don’t believe this just because I’m saying it. Do your due diligence. Get out there and conduct your own research. Try this in your own life. (That’s the whole point!) Have fun investigating – and then get in touch to share your story of success! 🙂

How I’ve Used These 5 Steps

Personally, I’ve been using this approach since 2000 to repeatedly change my life and accomplish the things I’ve wanted:

Acquire six major qualifications
Teach English in South Korea
AuPair in the South of France
WWOOF in Sicily
Move indefinitely to the UK from Canada
Teach successfully for over a dozen years
Travel in 46 countries
Survive my quarter-life crisis (this was the hardest!!)
Buy and renovate a house
Gain UK citizenship
Survive 20 years of Mr Wrongs to find Mr Right
Elope by seaplane on Whitehave Beach
Acquire multiple promotions
Turn my home into a successful holiday rental
Take a 15-month trip around the world
Overcome a debilitating phobia
Start Wodara (yay!)

…and that’s just part of the list!

How Long Will it Take to Change my Life?

This will vary depending on many factors. It could take a week for some small change you’d like to make in your life, or a few years for a complete transformation that is highly complex to execute.

My husband Erik put it very well when he said:

‘Imagine that you have a tail and it grows as you age. The older you get, the longer your tail becomes.

Each time you want to change direction, your tail swings behind you. The longer it is, the more things it will hit, so the more careful you have to be.’

This is very true!

In my early twenties, my tail was short and I could totally change my life in a few months. Now, in my mid-thirties, with jobs, pensions, and assets to worry about, it takes longer. I can imagine that when it’s time to factor kids into the equation, our tails will be much longer again.

Whatever your situation, you just have to adjust your expectations. That’s why the time it takes is not important. The time is going to pass anyway so you’d might as well spend it investing in your future and pursuing a goal that you want to achieve.

The only thing that IS important is that you get through ALL of the steps in the recipe – or your cake won’t be edible.

Because it’s not as Simple as it Seems…

You can read all about this stuff as much as you want, but unless you understand it enough to then actually DO it, nothing is going to change.

For this reason, this article is just the first in a ‘How to Change your Life‘ series of seven articles. They will explain each step in depth and hopefully give you enough practical information to walk yourself successfully through each of them.

These articles will be published in the new few weeks. If you’ve not already done so, you may like to follow us to get notified when they’re live.

All Articles in the ‘How to Change Your Life’ Series:

How to Change your Life ( in 5 Steps ) …current article
How to Change your Life ( Step 1 of 5 )
How to Change your Life ( Step 2 of 5 )
How to Change your Life ( Step 3 of 5 )
How to Change your Life ( Step 4 of 5 )
How to Change your Life ( Step 5 of 5 )
From Dreams to Reality ( 5 Steps in Action )

If you want to get some family and friends on board with you for moral support, you can easily pass them this article (sharing buttons are below) so they know what you’re going to be doing.

May you find and live your Wodara!

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