Change is a necessary part of life. We live in a period of rapid change, and if you want to get ahead or even maintain the status quo, you must embrace change. Unfortunately, as human beings, we want to stay safe, and we don’t want to change. Many of our habits are a result of our subconscious. If we had to think about everything we need to do during the day, from opening our car door to brushing our teeth to tending to our work obligations we would be exhausted. The brain wants to be as efficient as possible. The downside is that it’s challenging to change, but if we want to change and improve our lives, we must improve and embrace change.

Before you can change your life, you will probably have to change your approach to life. Change can be described as putting a reset on your goals. There are a few catalysts to change. The first catalyst is based on need. If you go to the doctor and are told to change your diet or else… If your industry changes and you need to upgrade your skills, you must keep up with the trends. If your significant other tells you that they are not happy and you need to change your relationship, then you might be forced to change.

The second catalyst of change is based on desire. You might have an idea for a business or a creative venture, and you want to pursue it. You wake up one morning tired of living a life you are not meant to live, so you decide to make changes. You and your spouse decide that you want to bring that spice back into your lives, so you decide to commit to date night, take a trip, or simply send flirty texts during the day.

The problem is that even if the change is one hundred percent needed, it still doesn’t guarantee you will change. After all, you could always deny that the change is necessary, ignore the reality, and bury your head in the sand.

Change can be described as a reset of your goals. More importantly, it can reset how you approach your life. Your approach got you where you are, but it probably won’t be enough to get you where you want to be.

It’s probably not enough to change one or two things and expect your life to change drastically. The bigger the change in outcomes, the bigger the change needs to be. A person can not fix their marriage by buying a dozen roses or half-heartedly saying, ‘I love you.’ You probably can’t improve your health by occasionally jogging around the block. You can’t expect opportunities to just knock on your door. Even if they do, you cannot fully take advantage of the opportunity without doing some kind of work.

Occasionally, we all need a reset on life and our approach. We can’t expect to change our lives without doing some kind of work. So often, we are waiting for the cavalry to come and save us, but change requires us to be the cavalry or at least find people who can help us achieve our goals.

To reset our lives, we must reset our approach to life. There are several ways we can do this. First, it is important to change how we see our goals; many people just don’t have the proper perspective when it comes to goals. It will be tough to improve your marriage when you think you have to be right all the time. It can be difficult to invest money when you think all investments are scams. It will be tough to build a team when you want to control everything and believe that nobody can be trusted.

The next reset is resetting the process and your habits. This is where most of the work comes in. Success can be described as figuring out the correct input that you need to have to realize the results that you desire. A workout routine, just the right amount of time with your spouse, and the workflow in your professional life are all examples of the approach you need to dial in to achieve your goals.

Another reset is simply the way you deal with challenges. Many catalysts of change are simply dealing with a challenge that pops up. In reality, many challenges are not unique, and somebody else has successfully dealt with them. Many people have dealt with health issues, anxiety, being a working parent, or even a disability like mine. Many entrepreneurs have dealt with staffing issues, marketing issues, bookkeeping issues, and every other issue under the sun.

You could have great motivation and intention when it comes to change. Many changes require cooperation, including cooperation with others. It may require a reset on current relationships or engaging people you are unaware of. If one member of a couple sees a need for a change and the other person does not see the need or even refuses to change, then change is almost feudal. If two business partners have different views, change might not happen. If two parents don’t have the same parenting philosophy, then change will be challenging. In some instances, we have to find people who can support change. This might be people that we know we have to engage differently. It might be someone we don’t know, like a business consultant, a trainer, or a nutritionist. These people are ready to help. But you have to know how to engage them. You have to be open-minded and willing to embrace their advice and tutelage.

Change might involve rearranging your physical environment. Many goals need physical tools to be accessible or useful. If you want to go on a diet, you might need sharp knives to cut vegetables or even a treadmill in your house. If you want to write or even research a goal, you might need to have a faster computer with reliable internet. You don’t want to be on a computer that you need to reset every hour. An environment can prepare you and encourage you.

Change is challenging for anybody. Before you can change your life, you must change your approach to life. It is unwise to think that everything will change but you. It’s just the opposite: You must be the catalyst for change.

From time to time, resetting your life and studying your approach to life is essential. Take a deep look at how you approach your goals. What are you doing to improve your life? A powerful way to succeed and be ahead of the game is to look at your approach every ninety days. Determine what is working, what’s not, and what you can improve upon. Then, make the necessary tweaks along the way. You can do this with your health goals, financial goals, relationships, professional goals, and anything else that you want to accomplish.