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It All Starts Here
7 Steps to Putting Yourself First

We all know the story of The Three Little Pigs. The three little pigs set out into the world, each with the same potential to live a successful and satisfying life by choosing to look after themselves in different ways.

The two little pigs, that chose to live their lives carelessly, without taking the time to create a plan to look after themselves, became scrumptious lunch for the Big, Bad Wolf!

The little pig that “made it” was the one that chose to look after the basics first. He looked after himself and what he needed. As a result, no matter how hard the Big, Bad Wolf tried to get him, he was protected, and he could go on to live a happy, healthy, and successful life.

The same is true for you.

Has life been knocking you down and gobbling you up with all of its day-to-day stresses, problems and unexpected mini-crises?

Or have you taken the time to create a strong and sustainable self-care system that is not only protecting you from life’s everyday stressors, but also allowing you to live to your potential and be at your very best?

The first step towards any kind of success, happiness or fulfillment is putting yourself first and looking after yourself and your needs to the best of your ability.

Only then, do you have the energy, inner resources and resilience to handle the pressures of everyday living. And more importantly, it is only then you can begin to experience a life that is continually filled with joy, happiness, health and success.

The choice is yours and it all starts here.

You either take the time to look after yourself in order to live a happy, successful and fulfilled life …….. or you don’t.

I know, I know. There is a lot that gets in the way of you putting yourself first.

“I don’t have time. I’m just too busy. Between work, the house, the kids, soccer practice, trying to get dinner on the table……..there is just no time.”

“I don’t have the energy. Look after me? After looking after everyone else, I just don’t have the ‘oomph’ to even think about me.”

“There are simply too many bills to pay, for me to even think about cutting back at work. I need all of the overtime hours I can get!”

Most of the reasons for not putting yourself first are related to “time”, “energy”, or “money” and they can stop you dead in your tracks. I am sure you have your own unique list of reasons that are very real to you.

The thing is this – if you keep on doing what you have always done, you will keep on getting what you have always got.

If you want to get something different, you have to be willing to move past your “reasons”, no matter how real they may seem, and begin to make incremental changes that will literally, begin to change your life.

"We become what we repeatedly do." ~ Aristotle

If you are unhappy and feeling stressed, if you are not living your best life and living to your potential, and if you know that life has more to offer – then you must begin with the basics – just like the successful little pig did – and put yourself and your needs first.

It is only after you begin to do this, when you start to feel protected and are getting your basic needs met, that you can stop worrying, stop doubting, stop living in fear, stop reacting and stop feeling stressed.

It is then that you can begin to live to your potential, be happy and healthy, and experience success in whatever way that you define it.

So, how do you begin to put yourself first?

How do you begin to restore, replenish and renew yourself?

You create a strong and sustainable self-care system that starts with the basics.

Here are the 7 steps to putting yourself first:

1. Know that you deserve to take care of yourself. You are worth living the life you want.

2. Understand that it is you who begins and commits to this process. It is a gift you give to yourself.

3. Start with the “basics” of putting yourself first. What do you most need to do to really look after yourself?

Do you need more rest?
Do you need to exercise?
Do you need to eat nutritionally?
Do you need more time just for you?

Choose the one that stands out the most for you and begin there.

4. Understand fully how this area is now.

Describe in detail how it truly is. Be ruthlessly honest.
How does it feel?
What does it look like?
What do other people say?
What are the consequences of it?
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being low and 10 being high) rate your level of satisfaction with this area.

5. Create a vision for how this area could be.

Imagine how this area could be if you were to rate it as a 9 or a 10. Describe that in detail. Let your imagination run free.

How does it feel?
What does it look like?
What do other people say?
What are the consequences of it?

6. Create a plan and start with the end in mind.

You have the vision of what this area could be like if you just changed this one thing.
Now work backwards, with the vision of what you want to create forefront in your mind’s eye, until you get to where you are right now.
If you rated your “now” as a “4” for example, start with the 9 or 10 vision, and then working backwards, outline what an 8 would be, then a 7, and then incrementally down to the “4”.

7. Implement your plan using ‘baby action steps’, always imagining that you already ‘are’ where your vision took you.

If you focus on what you want to create, rather than on what you don’t have, you will have much greater success of actually getting it.
So, if you rated your now as a “4”, design baby ‘action steps’ that will put you into your imagined vision of a “5”. Gradually repeat the process until you are actually inside and living your “9 or 10” vision.
Congratulations! You are there

As you repeat these 7 steps with other basic areas of self-care and continue to nurture and fortify yourself, you will have cultivated the equilibrium and balance needed to live the life you have always wanted.

Tips to help the process run smoothly:

· Daily Discipline is essential. Incorporate small baby action steps every day, until your vision becomes your new reality.
· Use a tracking system to help hold you accountable. A “List of Daily Habits” that you can check on a daily basis can help tremendously.
· Use the “Grow” model to help you through difficult times.
G – What is your goal?
R - What is your reality right now?
O –What are you options in this moment?
W –What will you choose to do in this moment?
· Get support.
- Begin your self-care program with a friend.
- Start a Self-Care Support Group – you can meet at each other’s house or on a conference call. The most important thing is that you check-in, hold each other accountable and be supportive of one another.
- Get a coach. There is no other relationship quite like that between coach and client. Think of any great athlete or CEO, and see what they were able to attain with the help of a coach.

Putting yourself and your needs first is the most important thing you can do towards living the kind of life you want.

Every person I have ever coached, regardless of what it is that brought them to coaching, needed to increase their level of self-care first, in order to get the results they wanted.

It doesn’t matter if you are a stay-at-home mom or dad, a career person, a CEO, an athlete or a retiree, if you are not looking after yourself and your most basic needs - you are not going to be as happy, healthy or successful as you could be.

It all starts here.

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© Cheri Baumann, Your Life Strategist, Personal Development Coach & Trainer .
Life Coach - Life Coaching at www.MyPrivateCoach.com
Cheri Baumann is the Life Strategist and Personal Development Coach at MyPrivateCoach: Life Coach. She can be contacted at info@myprivatecoach.com.
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