Shakabuku- A Spiritual Kick To A New Self!

“Shakabuku.” It means a swift spiritual kick to the head that changes everything.

Have you ever just heard yourself give up? Ever felt just stuck? A lot of people our age have reposted that “Quarter-age Crisis” blog post. Well guess what --- it can’t possibly be true for everyone. It’s just easier to accept facts that are true now, like the helplessness, but not the discomfort that a little change might bring.

Not that bringing in a change will always be horrible. It takes 12 tastes of new food before your brain registers the taste as “ok,” much in the same way that habit forms after 21 repetitions. So how could a young 20-something do some change?

1. Know Your Goal – Before you start any endeavor, you have to know your goal --- you have to know what you want to become. Pick a change that you genuinely want for yourself. When you try on a new hobby that you don’t feel good about, it shows --- much is the same with personal change. The 28-Day Challenge Online Planner has goals mapped out corresponding to the days it’ll take to get you there, so that’s a nice start.

2. Become Behaviorally Flexible - It usually takes 12 samplings of a new flavor before it starts registering in our brain if its good (gives pleasure) or bad (repels the tongue!) for us. Keep at it! If you start to feel like you’re not going in the direction of the desired change, try a different approach. Know when you have to stop or keep a certain approach, and then alter your behavior accordingly.

3. Commit! – Would you rather be open to change or be uncomfortable? Anxiety when trying out something only tells us that we’re doing something new, and it would take the body a while to adjust for that action. Power through and you’ll find that confusion precedes understanding.

4. Learn From Everything – “There are no mistakes, only feedback,” as one of my mentors once told me. Mistakes are for mapping out things that you’ll be avoiding for the next time.

5. Track Your Change! – Keeping a journal of the change from average everyday-you to becoming that Travel Savvy girl, Beach Babe, or Corporate Catch helps you keep a measure of what exactly is new with you. Try the 28-Day Challenge Online Planner --- it has a built-in calendar to show you that in less than a month, you’ve become something more than your present self.