52 Practical and Inspiring Ways to Improve Your Life, Part 2

Life Makeovers
by Cheryl Richardson

(Page 2 of 3)

I also went out on the road speaking about these topics to larger audiences who felt disillusioned with their lives. As I spoke to audience members and read through the letters and e-mails I received from readers of my first book, it was clear that these strategies were working and that my readers wanted more. They wanted to continue to hear about others who were making changes in their lives, and they wanted bite-sized homework that they could implement on a weekly basis to support them in making the changes I had outlined in the book. That's when I decided to use technology to my advantage.

In January of 1999 I launched an on-line newsletter called Life Makeover for the Year 2000. I designed the newsletter to support readers by providing simple, practical strategies that they could use to improve their personal and professional lives on a weekly basis. Based on my experience while coaching clients, I decided to use the "one week at a time" process not only to help make change easier for more people, but to make the process fun and effective as well. Each week I chose a random topic that addressed a certain area of personal or professional growth, and I added a specific action that readers could take during the week to help improve this area. As readers began taking action, their lives started to change. And all of the small changes they were making started to add up.

The Life Makeover community began to grow as readers started forwarding the weekly newsletters to friends, family members, coworkers, and colleagues around the world. For example, one woman, the dean of a well-known university, distributed the newsletter to everyone at her school. Another reader, the president of a manufacturing company, decided to send the weekly newsletter to every employee at the company. What started out as a community of a few hundred quickly grew to several thousand within one year.

The foundation of this weekly process was rooted in my basic coaching philosophy of extreme self-care. This concept, introduced to me by my colleague, Thomas Leonard, challenged readers to take such good care of themselves that at times the program even felt a bit self-indulgent. There was an important reason for this. In my experience as a coach I learned that when clients took extremely good care of themselves by doing things like taking time off on a regular basis, saying no more often to people or projects or situations that drained them, and listening to and acting on their inner wisdom, their stress levels went down and their life satisfaction increased. They also began to care for others in a much healthier way. This realization became my guiding vision — to help people care more deeply for themselves so they were better able to care for others and the world around them. . . .

The "Life Makeover" program is a powerful year-long program for change. It is designed to support you in changing your life one week at a time. Each chapter (week) consists of a topic of the week and contains a Take Action Challenge and a Resources section to support you in taking action quickly and easily. (Many of these resources were provided by our online community).

The process is meant to be simple and fun. Although I have kept the original theme of starting at the beginning of the year (January) and working through until the end (December), I invite you to use this book in your own unique way. Whether you decide to start from the beginning and work from Week #1 through Week #52, dip into the book at random, or find a chapter that covers a topic you'd like to work on, what matters most of all is that you do something with the material you read. After all, taking action is the only way to create positive, long-lasting change in your life. As you begin to engage in the weekly Take Action Challenge homework, you'll see how one week builds upon another, and before you know it, you'll start to experience important positive changes in your life too!

As you begin this weekly program, the most powerful motivating force that will help you to take the actions outlined in this book is a partner or group of like-minded friends who are interested in changing their lives for the better too. I can't stress this point enough. Community is an extremely important ingredient for your success. Partnering with a coworker, family member, or friend is like providing yourself with a life-insurance policy that will pay far greater dividends. You might even create your own book club, work-study group, or family team. Once you have your partner or team in place, follow these four simple guidelines:

1. Make a plan for how you'll support each other. For example, will you meet in person or over the phone? How often will you meet and when?

2. Review the topic of the week and discuss how the topic relates to you and your life.

3. Make a commitment to a specific action related to the "Take Action Challenge" and let your partner or team know what you'll be working on during the week.

4. Plan a time to reconnect so you can share your progress and celebrate your success together.

Don't be afraid to ask for support during the week. In the beginning you might need a helping hand more often. These simple stories of inspiration and action can make a world of difference in your life and the lives of those you care about. It only takes one small consistent action to make a big change in your life, so don't let fear, procrastination, or doubt get in your way.

As you start to make changes on a weekly basis, be prepared for your life to unfold in wonderful ways. As you clean up the clutter, reconnect with your inner wisdom, strengthen your character, and take on the challenges of high-quality living, you'll find that the lost parts of yourself start to come together to form a pretty amazing life. Good luck!

Copyright © 2002 by Cheryl Richardson. Excerpted by permission of Broadway, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Cheryl Richardson is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Take Time for Your Life, Life Makeovers, and Stand Up for Your Life. As a professional coach and speaker, her work has been covered widely in the media, including the Today show, Good Morning America, The New York Times, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Cheryl led the Lifestyle Makeover Series on The Oprah Winfrey Show and accompanied Ms. Winfrey on the "Live Your Best Life" nationwide tour. She lives in Massachusetts.