We’ve all been there – those moments in life when we struggle to find a positive footing due to some of life’s struggles.
But, did you know your personal narrative could be a cause and/or symptom of your situation?
Either way, you know how terrible it can be if you’re on this less than pleasant path.
And typically, the only solution to improve your situation is to change your life. But to change your life, you’ll first need to change your story.
So, let’s get serious and make the decision today to rewrite your story.
With that being said, here are ten steps to help you start the process of life change!
If You Want to Rewrite Your Story, Follow These Steps…
1. Overcome Negativity Bias
The human brain is wired to make bad stuff stick in a much stronger way than good ones. So, even if you have an equal share of both positive and negative experiences, the brain tends to emphasize the negative ones above the positives.
Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as the negativity bias, and it’s a trap.
It can impact your story and sabotage your success. This is why I recommend overcoming this as the very first thing to do if you want to rewrite your story. Make a conscious decision to focus on the positives in your life once the negativity starts to creep in. This will help put you on alert so you can minimize this bias as you set out to create a new story.
2. Be The Author of Your Own Story
This is more about your mindset than it is about other things. If it’s your story, own it.
Putting yourself in charge as the creator of your story will impact your perspective and approach to life. Rather than living as someone who thinks life just happens to them, you live life as the creator of your own future and destiny.
By creating your story, you can assert your influence on the personality you want to create as well as on the characters embedded within your story, among other things. While external opinions might be considered, you’re the sole authority in charge of which opinions are worth consideration as well as those that belong in the bin.
3. Develop a New Theme For Your Story
Every story should present a narrative to the reader. Likewise when you rewrite your story, you need to find a theme to focus your new story around. Chances are you’ve been focusing on negative and discouraging themes up until this point. It’s time to associate your life’s story with a more encouraging theme.
Consider changing your life’s theme from ‘failure’ to ‘growth.’ And rather than ‘condemnation’, carve your story around ‘redemption.’ In the end, choosing an overriding theme that’s positive and encouraging as this can help change your realities and perspective.
4. Consider Closing Chapters That Need to End
The story of your life will have many chapters. Some of these chapters will be phenomenal. But some will leave little to be desired. If you don’t like the way a certain chapter is unfolding, perhaps it’s time to close it. One bad chapter is not going to be the end of your story.
Take a moment and reflect on certain aspects of your story (life).
Identify key aspects and leverage them to your advantage. If you’re at this point where the way forward does not hold significant promise, gather courage, end that chapter, and leverage the opportunity to start on a clean slate.
5. Embrace Change to Move Forward
Many people are afraid of change. They fear it will knock them off their game for good. But there’s no real growth when you’re approaching key aspects of your life with a rigid mindset.
The whole idea of rewriting your story is about forging a new path. Change is inevitable, no matter how hard it might seem. According to Inc, looking beyond your doubts, fears, and uncertainties to analyze your life, identify the negatives, and take the right steps to change, is requisite for growth and success at work and life.
6. Take Steps to Kill Your Villain
In every story, there’s often a bad guy that ends up defeated. While writing your story, you also should focus on ways to defeat your villains. You need to decide on how you’d go about this.
These villains can come in different forms. It could be the bad company you keep or the bad habits you wish you could stop. Within your story, you need to establish the steps and plans you’ll put in place to defeat these sources of negativities in whichever form they appear.
7. To Rewrite Your Story Change Your Environment
Your environment or location is one of the powerful forces of your life.
Depending on how it is set up, this could either empower or hinder your success. So, if you plan on changing your life, you should also consider changing your environment.
Take this research by the American Psychological Association, for instance. It showed that people working abroad tend to be more creative than those within international boundaries. This does not mean you have to pack up and relocate abroad or elsewhere, I’m just using it as a reference to the power of your immediate environment.
Your place of work, where you hang out with friends, as well as your neighborhood can encourage or sabotage your growth efforts. If your path forward does not seem promising in your current environment, change it. You’re not a tree!
8. Choose The Right Supporting Cast
While you’ll always be the main character in your story, your supporting cast will also play vital roles. If you’re rewriting your story, you’ll need to introduce new characters that may not be in your previous life. The wise thing to do is to choose the right people to go with.
Perhaps you’re creating a new story based around freedom from addiction; you’ll want to keep away from potentially toxic peers who may influence you back to this habit.
In the same vein, if you’re striving for growth in your professional life, you’ll probably want to consider joining professional networks that will prove valuable towards that end. Whatever may be the driving force for your story, you need to surround yourself with the right people to help you as you set out to achieve your goals.
9. Create Strong Goals
Speaking of goals, rewriting your story is also about rewriting your goals. The goals you’ve had in the past may no longer be serving you. So, considering creating some goals that will inspire and enliven your outlook.
Of course, you’ll want to ensure that your goals are S.M.A.R.T., but the important thing is that you create strong goals for yourself. Goals that will pull energize and pull you into action. Because let’s be honest, if you want to change your life and your story, it is going to require lots of action.
10. Keep At It
Now that you’ve rewritten your story and are taking action to change your life, it’s important to understand that challenges and setbacks will surely surface. Whether or not you end up successful will depend on how resilient and persistent you are.
Everything we’ve mentioned here should be adhered to religiously. You’ll need to keep practicing and doing the right things until they become habits for you.
So keep at it and persist, and positive change will come.
Final Thoughts on Rewriting Your Story
The past belongs in the past. But the future is well within your control.
Regardless of where you are in life, you can always reframe and rewrite your story for the better. The tips above are tested and proven if you feel stuck and want to take charge of your life. You can’t keep blaming others for the way your life has turned out.
Do an honest assessment and take a moment of deep reflection. Don’t allow the current torn and undesirable chapters of your life to extend longer than necessary. Discover a new theme for your life and become the author of your own story. These and the other steps will help you rewrite your life and in the process, create a new reality for yourself.
Till next time,
STRIVE
PS – If you enjoyed this article about how to rewrite your story, then you love this post on life advice for finding more success in life.
