If you do nothing different today...

How can you expect things to change for you if you do nothing different today?

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But before we get into today's edition of the daily dose, just a quick reminder to all AOL, Yahoo and Hotmail email users and recipients... I am getting a lot of bounce backs so can you please ensure you have elle@motivateme.info in your white list, otherwise you'll be complaining you're not getting messages - when I have been sending them, just can't get through to you - thanks Elle.

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So, to go back to today's question - if you continue to do the same things in the same way every day / week / month - then how are you ever going to change your life? Now I understand change can be hard, it can be extremely hard to sneak out of the zone of comfort without the guard of conscious thought standing in front of you asking "and where do you think you are going?" before dragging you back into the warmth of what you know and can do without thinking about.

So how do you sneak out of the zone of comfort without the guard catching you?

Well there are some simple things to try.

1. Distract him/her - feign confidence in whatever new enterprise you are embarking upon. Walk into a room with your head held high, even if you think your stomach is going to land on the floor in a big embarrasing puddle. Pretend it's "normal" for you and your guard will doze off and move out of the way.

2. Move slowly. Rather than taking a massive running jump into a new project - break it down into tasks you can complete in the next few minutes. The guard will notice what you are doing. But because you "stop" after a few minutes - he / she will go back to reading that magazine it found on the corner of the check out. Then when you think he / she is not paying attention take the next little task and do that as well. What do I mean by a little task? Well - take telephone sales for instance. Rather than blocking out an entire hour on your calendar and work yourself into a lather telling yourself that for the next hour you are going to make some calls...make just one. Write one letter rather than an entire address book. Write one chapter of a project you are working on. If that's too big, write one paragraph, write an outline, write the conclusion, draw a diagram...whatever takes you onwards whilst at the same time, fooling your guard of conscious thought. Believe me it works. And because you've completed the task without fear or striving, the guard will not have to worry about that particular task again...and will carry on reading that magazine in the corner by the door.

3. Or you can bash it on the head and tell it to go away - take that massive jump and say to dickens with you matey i'm off.... which can also work, it depends on the kind of person you are. But believe me when I say - you do have to have the courage of your convictions to do this one and get away with it....imagine your guard of conscious thought puffing up behind you and screaming - you'll know what will happen, don't come crying back to me when it all fails.....who do you think you are....

4. Give your guard a name.... go on - dare you. It's fun. Mine used to be called Gary!!

Have fun and do something different today.