What do you want to change?

My counselor likes to start talking about the things we complain about. It sounds simplistic but this is how you know what your problems are. What don't you like? What do you complain about to friends? Move, like a poked amoeba, away from the source of the unpleasant stimulus.

But sometimes people don't even realize when they're complaining about something. This is why awareness is so important -- otherwise you don't really realize it's an issue.

Distractions abound if you let them!

"I'm so tired." "I hate this extra weight." "I can't stand how messy my desk has become."

How do you move from complaint to action? How do you go from "I should clean" or "I should get more sleep" to actually doing it?

Well, the first step is figuring out what's going on. Why are you not doing something you think you should? Do you not really want to? Is it time to adjust self-expectations to remove it as a perceived responsibility? Or do you just need to figure out how to get around the barriers?

We plan for our educations carefully. We know the end goal: a degree. We enroll in programs, enlisting the help of a mentor (student advisor) for advice on how to climb the steps incrementally to that goal. It takes time and planning but we expect this. Successful changes take a similar route. What is it you want to target?  What kind of life do you want to live? What kind of rhythm do you want to see in your everyday routine? What are you not satisfied with that could use some shaking up?

Whatever it is, either remove the burden of "should" from your vocabulary and release yourself from that expection, or get started. Every day is a new day. If you'd began working on it this time last year, how far along would you be now? Start planning now. Your future self is waiting.