Could it be this simple?

I once read this fable that stuck with me:

A woman once lived in a shabby, cluttered house. She was lonely, stuck in a rut and was very unhappy with her life. She met a wise man and asked for his advise to change her life. The wise man gave her a red geranium flower and told her to take it home. He told her it would transform her life. She took the geranium home and set it on her wobbly kitchen table covered by a stained tablecloth. While she was waiting for some magic to happen, she saw how beautiful the geranium was but how shabby the table linen looked.  So, she washed the tablecloth. Then she noticed how her newly washed tablecloth made her floor seem dull, so she scrubbed it. This made her kitchen walls look bad, so she repainted the room in a fresh color and replaced missing cabinet knobs. Eventually her entire home was sparkling. She was very proud of the work she did on the home and started inviting friends to her home, enjoying her life much better. She became cheerful, her outlook became positive. The Red Geranium was magical indeed and changed her life.

We want to change many things in our life too, whether it is personal or work related. However, it is hard to get motivated because we attempt to make grand changes all at once. Instead, if we make small incremental changes and meet them, we will be motivated to do more like the woman in this story. We need to find our red Geranium that would get us started.

Let us say we do make a small change, how do we ensure we continue doing what we started and make the change permanent? I found that if we stick with something just long enough - about 30 days without giving up, chances are it becomes a habit and you no longer have to think about it.

A couple of years ago, my cholesterol numbers were really bad. I started exercising, but given everything else that was going on, it was hard to motivate myself to keep up a regular schedule. I decided to try a specific gym routine for the next 30 days. It was much easier to make the necessary changes in my schedule to keep up with the exercise routine knowing I only have to "try" this for 30 days and it is not a permanent arrangement. And sure enough, well after 30 days I stuck to the routine, and it became a habit. And that's not the end of it. Like the woman in the red geranium story, once I started the exercise routine, I was motivated to change several other things in my life style that helped me greatly.

Think of one small change you want to make and stick with it for the next 30 days. Chances are, it will be there with you forever and lead to other great things.