The best changes in life are those that took some courage to do. Changing job, moving to a new house or country, saying no, those are all difficult things to do in practice.

I thought about this when I was analyzing my own feelings as I’m moving to a new apartment. Inside of me there was one voice saying that if I moved then I would have to use my savings in order to get everything in order. At the same time I knew that I had to find a new place as soon as possible, so eventually I made the decision to do it (actually I’ll get the keys this week).

According to Einstein, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. But you don’t need to be Einstein to understand why this is true, you just have to look at your daily life and the people around you. Think about it.

So how do you find the courage to change? It’s easy to just talk about it but how do you actually do it? There’s no single answer, but the following should be a good start:

  1. First, realize that no change is permanent, and that you aren’t going to die. It seems like everyone and their dog is dreaming about traveling to a tropical island, starting their own business, or trying a new diet, but few take action. The problem is that we’re afraid of abandoning the old, secure lifestyle in order to jump into the unknown. But here’s the truth: you’re not going to die. Even if you resign from your day job and you leave for thailand for three months, when you come back you’ll be fine and you’ll be able to find a new job or another way to support yourself. Life is one and it’ll never be the right time to do anything.
  2. Second, make decisions fast. Don’t spend hours analyzing your different options before taking a decision. It is said that after a few seconds you’ve already made your decision, and after that it’s very rare that you’ll change your mind. So don’t lose time, do what it feels right to you.
  3. Finally, have some minimum standards. Let’s say that you quit your current job because they didn’t pay you much. If you don’t pay attention it’s very easy that you’ll end up in a similar job with equal pay, and you’ll have to start all over again. To avoid similar situations, decide in advance what your minimum standard will be, and refuse to take anything lower. It takes some courage to do so but it’s worth it every single time.

Practice these tips to improve your ability to change. Remember that you’ll often get the biggest benefits by taking the actions that you’re most afraid of. I encourage you to figure out what those changes are and then to take a step toward them.