Whether it’s a New Year, a birthday or some other standout event on our calendar, these “landmark occasions” can present a great opportunity to take a step back and assess where we are in life.

However while different occasions are useful for measuring timeframes and durations of implementing a new habit, they are not as necessary as people think to make change.

Because certain events throughout the year tend to disrupt our day to day routine with holidays and so forth, we can naturally find ourselves putting more thought than usual into how our lives are shaping out around these times.

Although it is fantastic to use different events as a starting point to set new goals and to assess the direction we are heading in, often people will actually procrastinate and justify to themselves that it is ok to wait until a particular occasion to do something as important as starting to exercise or letting go of a painful experience.

Perhaps you have heard someone talking about starting a new habit and they will say something such as, “next year I will…”? Or, “I can’t wait for this year to be over so I can…!”

Of course if a new habit is so important and is worth implementing at all, it is worth implementing right now. Unfortunately, people can end up putting so much pressure on themselves when these events finally arrive, they can hardly enjoy the occasion.

Today I want to offer you some simple points that can help you make effective change at anytime.

#1. Remember that different occasions are just another day

Sure this is obvious, yet aren’t the obvious things in life the easiest to overlook? When the sun rises everyday of the year, we are presented with a new opportunity for a fresh start, not just on New Years Day. We are a day older everyday, not just on our birthday.

When those special occasions come around, we consciously choose to make a big deal of them. Why not choose to make tomorrow the day you commit to change your life forever.

#2. Develop the habit of making daily adjustments

It is easy to fall into the trap of waiting for time off until we put the time aside to assess our lives. Instead of waiting, there is huge power in making it a daily practice to course correct and to make sure we are on track.

It is far more simple to take five minutes out of each day to adjust one millimetre than having to spend months trying to adjust meters to get back on track in a years time.

#3. Get a run up 

Choosing to start implementing a new action immediately means that you will not only get to start seeing results sooner, but you will also be days, weeks or even months further ahead than someone who waits for an occasion to come around. It always takes a bit of time to find our feet when starting a new habit, so right now is the perfect time to start if it is really so important to you.

#4. Don’t carry the negativity into tomorrow

I once had a draw in our house that I would put all the non important paperwork that I accumulated throughout the week. If I left that draw for a year before I cleaned it out, I dread how much rubbish I would have collected.

This is very similar to those days we have where things don’t quite go to plan. Perhaps we aren’t feeling the best or something happens that causes us to react in a negative way. We might snap at someone or punish ourselves unnecessarily. These days can create cracks. If we don’t give ourselves permission to start fresh and go back and repair even the tiniest cracks on a regular basis, those cracks can grow to such a size that they end up beyond mending.

Just remember that if we can treat each day as an opportunity for a new start and we can become conscious of what we are “tucking away in our draw” each day, we can absolutely set ourselves up for a great future.

Hey I don’t know about you, but I like the odds stacked in my favour. Why not decide to give yourself 365 days of opportunities to live more of a magnificent life.

Here is a picture quote by Joel Brown, the founder of Addicted2Success.com that is so in tune with this article:

Remember, sharing is caring! If you have any friends and family who would benefit from any of the information in this post, please share it.

This article originally appeared on iamnashmackey.com