Want to live life to the full?   Want to be effortlessly successful and happy?   Of course you do – we all do.   The good news is that it’s possible to start today – and everyone can do it.   The secret?   Well, actually, it’s not a secret at all – because we all have an innate ability to be all that we can be – straight away.

But, to start living your new life, you’re going to have to stop living the old one – the everyday humdrum life of “not too bad”, the daily routine that most people endure mindlessly.   Yes, mindlessly.

You see, the problem with almost everybody is that they live their lives automatically, react rather than act and do mostly the same things the same way most days – out of habit.   And, if you do things out of habit, you do them mindlessly.   That’s why decades of university research can conclude that most people only use a tiny percentage of their mental capability – probably only 1% or 2%.   When you do things habitually, you’re not mentally all there!

Stop for a moment to consider what things you might do the same way day in day out – without consciously getting involved mindfully.   I can think of loads – walking, brushing my teeth, showering, getting dressed (research shows that we all “lead” with one leg and one arm – so that, if you think about it, you’ll realise that you put the same leg into your pants first every morning, the same arm first into your shirt).   Let’s continue that list – driving, saying hello to the same work colleagues the same way most days, sitting in the same place for lunch in the staff canteen – the list is endless.

What about your nearest and dearest – your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife.  When you wake up beside them nowadays, it’s no longer the same as it was the first morning you woke up beside them.    And if you’ve none of those “nearest and dearests” – the point is still the same.   Leaving your Mum or Dad for work or college on an average day isn’t the same as the first day you set off.   The fact is, we get used to things and people – they become familiar.  And, at the very least, familiarity leads to mindlessness – some would say it even “breeds contempt”.

Most importantly, you’ve got used to yourself – you’re too familiar with yourself, how you behave, who you think you are, what you think you’re capable of and what you think you can’t do.  You’ve a lifetime of living with your personality which, being derived from the Latin persona, meaning mask, may not be who you really are at all – may not be what you’re really, really capable of being.

You need to start waking up to the here and now – to what you’re actually doing now, to who you’re really with now, to who you really are – right here, right now.   If you do, then you’ll be more “all here” than the pathetic 1% or 2% that most of us put into doing what we’re doing.   You’ll start doing things mindfully – you’ll be better at what you’re doing, whatever that is, you’ll be more present, you’ll have more presence – and, having more presence (being more present), you’ll be more impressive – and life will start getting better straight away.

How to start?   Well, if you think about that fact that all our mindless behaviour is the product of habit, then the answer becomes obvious – as I said already, it’s not a secret.   Start breaking little habits – if you break little ones, you’ll break bigger and bigger ones – and the biggest bad habit we all have is to be found in the way in which we limit ourselves and, as a consequence, our own lives.

Tomorrow morning, brush your teeth with the “other” hand, shave with the “other” hand – all my clients have to do this on my workshop and no one’s been injured (seriously) yet!, put the “other” leg in your pants first, the “other” arm in your shirt or top.   Stop to really say goodbye to your nearest and dearest – really say hello to your friends and colleagues.

The difference, which will Change Your Life effortlessly, starts with being mindful, avoiding repetitive, habitual behaviour.   The difference comes from being mindful in all you do – little things first, great things follow.