A simple but overlooked way to change

This might surprise you, but I could tell—with remarkable accuracy—what you believe about personal matters like your health, well-being, finances, and relationships.

No, I can’t read your mind. I’m not telepathic.

It’s easy to tell what someone believes.

Just watch what they do.

You can discuss your beliefs about health, well-being, finances, or relationships until you’re blue in the face. But what you actually eat, what you save and spend, how you use your time, and how you treat others will tell me the truth.

Belief is a powerful thing. What you believe influences how you see yourself, how you react to your surroundings, and the way you treat others.

When your beliefs negatively impact your attitude, behavior, health, or well-being, those beliefs become an obstacle. They keep you trapped—physically, emotionally, or both.

But there’s REALLY good news.

Change is possible. And one of the ways you can change your disempowering beliefs is by TAKING ACTION.

Let’s take a look at what the power of action looks like in real life.

Pretend you’ve made a fitness resolution on New Year’s Day. You want to be able to do FIFTY push-ups.

Work with me here. 🙂

Your push-up resolution results in an immediate struggle between your head and your heart. You tell yourself that fifty push-ups is a transformational goal. And you understand the long-term health benefits of exercise.

Yet you struggle to believe that fifty push-ups could ever be possible—at least for you. Because right now, you struggle to do even one push-up.

But something in your heart tells you to take action with a small first step. So you put on your lightly used workout clothes and get down on your hands and knees to start training.

You struggle and strain. Finally, you collapse in a pool of sweat.

You did it! ONE push-up.

Now what? Despite your unremarkable start, you feel proud of yourself for taking action. So you decide to stick with it. Day two. Same result, and same pool of sweat. Days three, four, five, and six all have the same result.

Then, on day seven, something surprising happens. You get on your hands and knees, and you do TWO push-ups!

How did that happen? How did you get from one to two? I’ll tell you how—it’s a MIRACLE! It’s a miracle because you could only do one, and now you can do TWO!

The truth is, you don’t care how it happened. What you do know is that you’re taking consistent action, and now you’re on a seven-day streak. So, you keep going—day eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. On day fourteen, you do FOUR push-ups! Eventually, four turns into TEN. Ten becomes TWENTY.

Now you feel unstoppable! You continue your newfound habits and routines, eat healthier, and rest and recover. And no matter what, you do your daily push-ups.

Then, on an ordinary Saturday morning, you get down on your hands and knees and—you do FIFTY PUSH-UPS!

How in the world did you get from ONE to FIFTY?

The answer? It’s a MIRACLE! You struggled to believe you COULD do it, but now you DID IT.

Not only do you have a new belief, but you also have a valuable new habit. All thanks to the miracle of action.

I know, this feels like a curse of the obvious. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve struggled to the point of self-loathing—only to find that the breakthrough to change was the simple act of taking action.

Here’s the important part. While the long-term goal might seem overwhelming, getting started almost always requires ONE SMALL STEP.

Also remember that the action doesn’t need to be perfect. Perfect is often the enemy. That’s because waiting for perfect is a perfect excuse for never getting started.

Give yourself permission to stumble and fumble. With time and practice, imperfect action becomes growth and momentum.

The key is to keep it simple, start small, and be consistent—just like beginning a fitness goal with one daily pushup.

What does that look like for you? What’s a disempowering belief that’s sabotaging you, or a habit you’ve been longing to change?

It might have to do with your health, finances, relationships, or career.

Now, take action.

The action might be as simple as going for a walk, making your bed, balancing your checkbook, cleaning the bathroom (sorry), beginning the day with a prayer, or calling a loved one.

Choose something and DO IT.

Then do it the next day. And the next.

Welcome to the new you.

Please don’t forget—this isn’t only about you. This is about your life and your purpose.

When you learn to change what you believe by taking action, you can also be a bigger blessing to the people, causes, and opportunities around you. You can get back to serving the people you love and doing the things that you care about most.

God bless you my friend. I’m celebrating you and cheering for you every step of your journey.

Do me a favor. Send me a message and let me know how taking action made a difference for you.

With gratitude,

John Alan