How To Dramatically Improve Your Life In 2 Years
by Tim Denning
You’re unlikely to change your life dramatically in a short space of time. Two years is a good number. It allows you enough time to experiment, execute and see the results.
In the last two years I’ve gone from not being able to do the following: speak publicly in front of a live audience, gain proper control of my health, control my anger, forgive people who did the wrong thing, find work I love and meet a girl who I could fall in love with.
Two years on, I’ve crushed each of these life goals. I feel like I haven’t just improved my life but that I’ve transformed it.
Here’s how you can do the same and improve your life:
Do one crazy thing.
The crazy thing I did was write down my fears and commit to knocking off at least one of them. The first one I went for was public speaking.
I began practicing in front of small crowds. Last week I spoke in front of eighty of the most senior managers in the company I work for and crushed it.
Tackling one fear became addictive and I ended up knocking over the whole list. The most difficult one was ending a more than ten-year family feud, so I could finally experience peace in my life again.
We all have one crazy thing that we’ve dreamed about and never taken action on. Dare to dream a little.
Find that one crazy thing and take one action towards overcoming the barriers that have stopped you in the past. Don’t let those excuses stop you anymore.
You need one event to trigger that transformation and then for the next two years you’ll have the momentum to get started on the rest of the suggestions I’m going to make below.
Prevent yourself from overthinking.
This guy sent me a note on LinkedIn. He had a dream of becoming a writer and he hadn’t executed for more than five years.
He sent me an article he wanted to post and asked if I could proofread it, provide feedback and then give him permission to publish it.
I was brutal with my response because I wanted him to win.
I told him “Stop overthinking and forget about asking for my permission.”
He ended up publishing his first article and not overthinking any longer. Before long, he’d published more articles in a few weeks, than he’d ever published in his entire life.
He’s well on his way to improving his life and doing what he loves because he stopped overthinking.
Many of you reading this article have the same sort of goals and have also been held back because of the following reasons:
1. You’re waiting for permission
2. You’re seeking perfection
3. You’re waiting for the right moment
4. You’re too busy with planning instead of executing
Screw all these excuses and just hit publish. Or just go for your goal. Or just make the investment. Or just attend the event.
Whatever your goal is, don’t allow yourself to think about it any longer.
Improving your life starts with executing — not thinking for years about it.
Look for quick wins.
The art of improving your life comes down a lot to how you feel. When you feel like your life is improving, you find this inner motivation that comes out of nowhere.
The way to get this boost in energy and thinking is to find some quick wins.
During my two-year journey, I threw out more than 50% of my belongings. It didn’t take me long to do, but it provided a tremendous quick win that I could build from.
Think carefully about one quick win you could execute on and then start taking one action daily towards achieving it. The smallest thing like making your bed every day will start you on a path of improving your life.
Consume less. Invest in yourself.
I mentioned before about getting rid of half my possessions. What I didn’t tell you is that I collected more than $20k from the sale of these useless items.
I then invested that money back into improving my life. I attended a couple of seminars; I put some of the money into a European holiday; I used some of the money to help others.
Many of you are consuming and buying things you don’t need. This leaves very little resources left to invest in yourself and your ability to grow and evolve.
“Change your spending habits from consuming products and over to investing in the growth of your goals. For you to improve, you must invest”
Find a way to share your thoughts.
Whatever your goal is in life, improving your life is best done by sharing your thoughts. I’ve chosen online channels to do this.
Over the last two years, I’ve shared my ideas and strategies with the world through Medium, Quora and LinkedIn.
By sharing my thoughts, people who think in a similar way have been attracted into my life. This has led me to consult for many companies that I previously could only have dreamt of working with.
Finding people like you who want the same things as you, and who you can collaborate with, first starts with sharing your thoughts.
The sharing of your thoughts is like a magnet that pulls in everything you’ve always needed and wanted in your life — the people, the ideas, the resources, the opportunities.
Build a diversified foundation of income.
For me, that looks like paid blogging, affiliate income, paid speaking gigs, consulting, a broad range of investments that compound year on year and 1 on 1 coaching.
- Money is not the key to everything like many people think, but it will make the dramatic improvement your seeking even bigger.
- Having diversified income means the following:
- The risk of you losing your full-time job is much less painful
- You’ll have money to invest in education and personal growth
- When the next recession comes, you’ll be prepared
- The ability for you to change directions in your career becomes easier
- Diversified income usually leads to passive income (making money while you sleep)
Passive income is my favorite. Going back a few years now, I invested heavily into reading more than twenty books on investing.
I implemented the strategies and now I make some of my income while I sleep. Passive income requires a bit of effort up front, but it’s worth the time.
Read some life-changing books.
None of my two-year change would have been possible if I didn’t fill my big head with new ideas. My previous thinking about the concept of success was flawed.
“My previous vision for success focused heavily on taking from the world rather than giving back”
Below are four books I read that led to the dramatic change in my life:
![Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by [Ferriss, Timothy]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51jkW-GzFiL.jpg)
Become really good at saying no.
A dramatic change in your life requires empty space to think and reflect. You’ll never get this time unless you get really good at saying no.
The more success you have in life, the more inbound requests you’ll get for your time. People will often want you to support their goals rather than offering you opportunities to support your goals.
Normally the first feeling you have when someone asks for your time is the correct one. Learn how to say no and always do so respectfully.
Do the right thing no matter what.
Incredible honesty and transparency in everything I’ve done over the last two years has helped me build up a team of allies who’ve taken my life much further than I could have ever expected — especially in the space of two years.
Doing the right thing will often mean that you could lose out in the short-term. That’s perfectly okay.
I’m aiming to set you up for long-term success and that means that how you act needs to be ethical.
“Dishonest people are quickly forgotten when there’s an incredible opportunity that is available”
By being overly transparent in business, I was able to build a list of customers who provided me with all the referrals I ever needed to grow my business.
I didn’t have to spend money on paid ads, PR or lead generation. Doing the right thing is always the right thing.
- Stop saying yes to dumb stuff.
- Gambling with your money
- Get rich quick schemes
- Material possessions you don’t need
- Requests of your time that you regret shortly after
Final thought.
Dramatically improving your life is possible when you commit to being disciplined, go outside of what feels comfortable and serve people other than yourself.
Personal transformation is how you build momentum for everything in your life. It’s the foundation for your own definition of success.
