It's Day ONE and time to clarify your goal.

What exactly do you want to change? 
Write your desired change down on a scrap of rough paper (later, you might want to throw away your first attempt!).

Now check:

• Is your change your own? Does it use the word “I” in it somewhere? If not, re-write it so that it does. Your goal has be your own, about you and within your own control (even if you are sharing it with your family - in which case they each might like to write down their own versions that are meaningful to them).
• Do you have a target date? When do you want to complete your change?
• Is it in the present tense, as if you've already achieved it on your target date? And does it say what you DO want (not what you don't want)? So, for example, if you started off with "I want to lose weight", you might change it to "It's 1st December (or whenever your 30-day target date is), and I now weigh 72kg."
• Picture yourself as you will be when you have achieved your goal and made your change. Use all your senses: When you have made the change you want, what will you see, hear, feel, taste and smell? What will you be saying to yourself?

Now make your change even more compelling

Make a mental picture of yourself in the future on your target date, when you have made the change. Bring the picture alive in whatever way works for you:

• Add colours and sounds and lots of lovely feelings of accomplishment, success, pride or whatever you want to feel.
• Turn it into a real picture, either by drawing something, or by finding images that represent the change. Magazines and the internet are both good sources.
• Or find a piece of music that represents the change and resonates for you.
• Or choose an object that represents the change. Some people even like to pick a small pebble, or even a paper-clip and carry it around with them to remind them of their change.

Get your brain working for you

The more you invest time in thinking about what it will be like when you have your change, the more you will be helping your brain to start programming itself towards achieving your change.

Get what you focus on

You know when you have just read a new book, or bought a new car, and then it seems as though everyone else is reading the same book, or driving the same car? It's that phenomenon which helps your brain to pay particular attention to whatever you're interested in. It's actually a part of your brain called the Reticular Activating System (or RAS) that is responsible for this, and when you see your goal in your mind's eye, really think about it and bring it alive, then you are programming this part of your brain to start noticing opportunities that will help you to achieve your goal.

Say it the way you want it

The more you do this, the more you'll notice things around you that are related to achieving you goal. In this way, you'll get more of what you focus on. That's why it's so important to focus on what you DO want. If you focus on what you don't want, for example doughnuts and fried food, then your brain will pay particular attention to doughnuts and fried food, and trust me, you'll start seeing them everywhere! It's a sure-fire way to sabotage your goal before you've even started.

So instead, make sure that you are thinking about the change that you DO want. You might express it as "I eat only healthy sized portions of healthy, nutritious food". Guess what, your brain will pay particular attention to healthy portion sizes and healthy food. It will certainly make achieving your goal a lot easier.

Lesson Activity

Today's actions:

• If you haven't already done it, download your MTC30 Workbook, Journal pages and Progress Chart which you can find in the Welcome module. (You may need to sign up, if you haven't already done so).
• Write down or draw your change, as if you already have it, exactly the way that you want it to be.
• Stick a reminder of your goal in the front of your journal, and put it in a couple of other places that you can see it. One very successful friend of ours puts his current goal on his bathroom mirror so that he has to look at it every time he cleans his teeth or shaves. Keep looking at your goal every day as a reminder of what you’re working towards.

Why not also share your change with others doing this challenge, by commenting in the MTC30 Facebook group?

Meanwhile, congratulate yourself on getting started, and log your action on your Progress Chart.

Here’s to your successful change...